Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Homily: December 17 - O Sapientia


Today begins what is often called “Deep Advent” or “Late Advent”.  Where the first two weeks of Advent focus on the Second Coming of Christ at the End of Time, the second half of Advent focuses on his first coming at his birth and his abiding with us. 

One of my favorite parts of this second half of Advent is that beginning December 17th, today, the Great O Antiphons sung at Vespers.  You may have never heard of the O Antiphons, especially if you aren’t in the habit of praying the Church’s official Evening Prayer.

The O Antiphons are seven prayers that are recited or chanted as the antiphon before the Magnificat at Vespers from the 17th to the 23rd of December.  The Church has used these Antiphons for 1500 years!  Each one begins with the acclamation "O," and addresses Christ by one of His messianic titles from the Old Testament, (O Wisdom, O Mighty Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Radiant Dawn, O King of the Nations, O  Emmanuel) and ends with a heartfelt plea for His coming.

The hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is based on these antiphons and express our longing and expectation for the Messiah and the grace about to be brought by the Christ-Child into the world. 

O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go

God’s Wisdom helps us put our lives in the proper order.  We would call someone foolish who doesn’t go to church, who ignores the commandments, who lives for pleasure, riches, fame, or power.  His priorities are not in order.  The wise man has his priorities straight, and judges rightly the things of earth in relation to his eternal end.

Wisdom helps us to judge whether our behaviors and attitudes are in keeping with a Christ like attitude or not. 

In our Gospel this morning, we heard the beautiful genealogy of Christ from Matthew’s Gospel going all the way back to Abraham.  Luke’s version of the genealogy goes all the way back to Adam.  God, in his Wisdom has been preparing creation and preparing humanity for the birth of the savior since the beginning.

The fool says in his heart, “there is no God.  God has nothing to teach me.”  But the Wise Man seeks out the Christ Child, and seeks to conform his heart ever more deeply to the will of God.   For the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

LET US PRAY that our lives may be ordered according to this Divine Wisdom, that our priorities may be straight at the coming of the Lord, that he may find us serving God rather than ourselves.

Come O Wisdom, that we may not judge things and actions from a purely human point of view, but a divine perspective, with an appreciation of the supernatural value of even the smallest of the works of charity.

Come, O Wisdom, help us to combat the wisdom of the world which is foolishness in the eyes of God. 

Come, O Wisdom, help us to be detached from the things of the world, so as not to be tempted to exaggerate their worth or guard them selfishly. 

Come O Wisdom, teach us to strive diligently in our devotion to our blessed Lord, and enable us to follow Christ in light and darkness, consolation and desolation.

Come O Wisdom, teach us prudence, the most important of the moral virtues, in governing our lives rightly, and especially in avoiding sin and the near occasion of sin.

Come O Wisdom, help us to love as we should.  And so we pray for the sick, the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, those in nursing homes, hospitals, and the homebound, and for those who will die today, for their comfort and the comfort of their families. 

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers, grant them, that our lives may be ordered by the true Wisdom which comes forth from the mouth of God, that our lives may conform with your Holy will in union with our expected Messiah, Jesus the Christ, who is Our Lord forever and ever.

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