Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
If Christmas falls on a Sunday, as it does this year, Advent lasts four full weeks. The last time that happened was in 2016. The Church proclaims a full set of readings for Advent only every seven years, including 2022. And how rich these readings are as we head towards Christmas!
During these seven days prior to Christmas we chant/pray the beautiful 9th century “O antiphons.” The O antiphons are a series of seven scriptural antiphons beginning with “O”, that are used in the octave (seven days) leading up to Christmas Eve, with a different antiphon proclaimed/chanted each day.
The one prescribed for today is, “O root of Jesse.” “O come, O Rod of Jesse’s stem, from e’vry foe deliver them that trust your mighty power to save. And give them victory o’er the grave.” You may recognize these as they have been joyfully rendered down the ages in our carol “O come O come Emmanuel.”
Sometimes friends and family send birth announcements when a new addition arrives. Our Liturgy of the Word features two such birth announcements today, that of the judge Samuel and of the immerser John. Both accounts show God acting in surprising and dramatic ways. God, it seems, enjoys doing just that.
How do we react when we hear good news, such as job advancements, athletic accomplishments, good grades, or just plain events that indicate that life is on the upswing? Do we rejoice like Mama Samson or are we cautious like Papa Zach, “waiting for the other shoe to drop?” In the words of today’s O antiphon, do we fail to “trust God’s mighty power to save?”
This leads to two essential questions applicable to these late Advent days. Can we live with trust as the mother of Samson does or do we compulsively question like Zechariah? Will we allow the Lord to transform us as people of faith or will we wallow and worry our way through life?
Yes, life is hard and unfair and nobody gets out of here alive. But this season of the year is a time to ponder that at its heart “All is gift. All is grace.” This is encapsulated in the beginning and end of Matthew’s Gospel which features the word Emmanuel--- God with us—the rod of Jesse’s stem who “shows his mighty power to save and gives us victory o’er the grave.”
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel!
-Timothy J. Cronin