O Adonai

O Adonai

O Adonai – O Lord!  It’s one week before Christmas, one week before the coming of Christ.  The anticipation is building.  The O Antiphons this week manage to intensify the anticipation.  I wrote about the O Antiphons last year but it bears repeating.

The O Antiphons are antiphons that are recited at evening prayer (part of the liturgy of the hours)  during the octave leading to Christmas.  Therefore, it starts on December 17 and goes through December 23.  Each antiphon highlights a title of the Messiah and  refers to the prophecy of Isaiah.

The reason I love the idea of reciting the O Antiphons is because it really forces me to focus on the coming of the Messiah on Christmas.  If I’ve been distracted during the previous three weeks of Advent, the antiphons are like the brakes in my life.   They are a sign for me to slow down, think, be present and mindful of the important event about the transpire.

When using the O Antiphons each day, we invoke the name of the Lord and await His response with hopeful anticipation.  There are many great websites that provide special prayers to complement the Antiphon of the day.  It’s a nice activity to do in the evening with the whole family.

Here are the antiphons for each day:

December 17 – O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

December 18 – O Adonai (O Lord)

December 19 – O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

December 20 – O Clavis David (O Key of David)

December 21 – O Oriens (O Radiant Dawn)

December 22 – O Rex Gentium (O King of all the nations)

December 23 – O Emmanuel (O God with us)

December 24 – because the antiphons are said during evening prayer, no antiphon is said on this day because the timing of evening prayer on this day is considered the Christmas Vigil, which counts as Christmas and is the day the Lord actually comes.

Finally, when you take all the highlighted letters in reverse you get the words ERO CRAS – which mean Tomorrow, I will come! Christ’s response to our calling all week.

In preparing to write this post, I was reminded of an Amy Grant song I like called El Shaddai.  I hope you enjoy it.  God bless you!