What to do this week:
- decorate your Christmas tree – you don’t “have” to yet, or you may have already done it, but in this 3rd week of Advent, following Gaudete Sunday, it is very appropriate
- Start finishing up that Christmas gift shopping!
- Get ready for the “O Antiphons”
- Get out your nativity scene
Hymn Study of the Week: O Come, O Come Emmanuel AND My Soul in Stillness Waits
This is the THIRD week of Advent! Granted, Christmas isn’t until next week Friday, so we will have almost a full fourth week of Advent, but we are starting to catch the excitement that Christmas is NEAR!
So this week’s theme is “anticipation”. The readings continue to point to the coming of the Messiah, in time and in our hearts. Just as we anticipate spiritually, we can bring that anticipation to our homes: decorate the tree, wrap presents, bake cookies, listen to Christmas music, and start to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.
This week, beginning Thursday, December 17, the Evening prayers at the liturgy of the hours focuses on a different title of the coming Messiah – part of the Old Testament prophecies. Each day will offer us a way to meditate on He-who-is-to-come, and what it meant then and now.
“O Come” – our longing is expressed in this simple phrase.
Just as they waited for his birth so long ago, we, too, today long for his presence in our lives, in our broken world.
As you can probably see, the song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is based on the O Antiphons. We like to sing the closest verse to the O Antiphon of the day when we light our Advent wreath candles from Dec. 17-23.
Dec. 17 – O Wisdom or O Sapientia
Dec. 18 – O Adonai or O Lord and Ruler
Dec. 19 – O Root of Jesse
Dec. 20 – O Key of David
Dec. 21 – O Radiant/Rising Dawn
Dec. 22 – O King of Nations
Dec. 23 – O Emmanuel
Come, Lord Jesus!
