O Sapientia! (O Wisdom!)

O Sapientia! (O Wisdom!) December 17, 2010

As Pat Gohn’s column so rightly pointed out yesterday, our Advent is like a pregnancy, and we are nearing our culmination.

Finally, we come to the last week of Advent, and the gorgeous O Antiphons which precede the Magnificat at Vespers. They lead us into a quieter mindset, so that we can concentrate more fully on what is about to overtake us. As with every birth, everything will change; we will be changed, if we allow ourselves to be, by the coming of Christ, who makes all things new!

I like this background, here (H/T Deacon Greg, via Concord Pastor).

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.

I remember walking past St. John’s Church, near Madison Square Garden, once as I was heading home from work; the church was ringing the Angelus, and those bells pierced my awareness. When I hear this chant, I always think, “imagine if suddenly, in the midst of all our rushing, we all heard this haunting chant breaking into our day – what it might uncover in ourselves, as it takes us out of ourselves…”

Speaking of “the midst of all our rushing,” Marcia Morrissey has some advice: “Switch Gears as Christmas Nears!”

Magnificent!

The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have nice meditations for each day’s antiphons.

Vivificat: Time has come to pray

Eric Sammons: The purpose of Christmas

Tim Dalrymple gives us four reasons why Christmas matters!

George Weigel’s Christmas Book Sampler

GK Chesterton’s take on Santa Claus

Julie has another sort of call to prayer.


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