THE O ANTIPHONS

The O Antiphons are an ancient text that is sung or prayed during the last seven days of Advent
(one each day from December 17 through December 23) as part of the Liturgy of Hours. (The
Liturgy of Hours is the way the Church prays throughout the day.)

No one knows the exact origin of the O Antiphons, but Christians have been singing them since
at least the fifth century. You might recognize some of the words, because the O Antiphons are
the basis of the popular hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

Each day, beginning tomorrow (December 17), we will pray and call out to Jesus according to
his titles taken from the Old Testament and we will also learn how or why that title is given to
Jesus.

December 17: O Wisdom from on High

December 18: O Adonai
December 19: O Stem of Jesse
December 20: O Key of David
December 21: O Morning Star/ Radiant Dawn
December 22: O King of Nations
December 23: O Emmanuel

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December 17: O Wisdom from on High

LET US PRAY
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,

reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of wisdom.” +
Why is Jesus called “wisdom from God’s mouth”?

Jesus is God’s promise to us. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, God spoke and promised
a Savior to redeem people from their sins. Jesus came from God’s mouth. Well, not literally but
figuratively.

Okay, we now know Jesus is from the mouth of God because God spoke about him. But why is
he wisdom?

Jesus is not only wise, but he is wisdom itself. He is the personification of Wisdom. He did not
only teach the people about the Kingdom of God but he also knew what was in the hearts of
everyone he met.

The prophet Isaiah spoke about Jesus hundreds of years before Jesus was born. “The spirit of the
LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of *wisdom* and of understanding… This too comes from
the LORD of hosts, wonderful is his counsel and great is his *wisdom*.”

We pray for the coming of the Wise Teacher, our Rabbi who will lead all of us into the path of
wisdom.

December 18: O Adonai

LET US PRAY
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai,
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.” +

Jesus is LORD! The Hebrew term for LORD is “Adonai”. The Jews have a deep respect for the
name of God. They do not call God by his name “Yahweh” (I am who am) because they believe
that they are unworthy even to speak God’s name. But they refer to God as LORD with
capitalized letters because the LORD’s name is above every other name. The Hebrew term for
LORD is “Adonai”. We call Jesus Adonai because he is our God.

He is our LORD. He is our Ruler. He is our Master.

The prophet Micah also spoke about Jesus when he said, “But you Bethlehem, though you are
small among the clans of Judah, out of you shall come the ruler and King of Israel.” And
according to prophet Isaiah, “The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is
our king, he it is who will save us.”

As Adonai, Master, and LORD, God gives us the law of love. On Mount Sinai, God the Father
came to Moses in the appearance of the burning bush and gave the Ten Commandments and it is
also God the Son who gave us the summary of the Ten Commandments, “Love the LORD your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with your entire mind. You shall love your neighbor

as yourself.”
December 19: O Stem of Jesse

LET US PRAY

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Stem of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.”+

Who is Jesse?

Jesse was King David’s father.

This verse tells us about Jesus Christ as a member of King David’s family tree, which makes
Jesus royalty.

Prophet Isaiah tells us, “A stem shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud
shall blossom. (Isaiah 11: 1) This blossomed stem that the prophet is talking about is none other
than Jesus Christ. But this branch of Jesus is like no other branch in the family tree. This branch
is “namumukod-tangi”. Jesus is the climax of the bloodline of King David.

The leaders of the world will bow down before Jesus because he is the King of Kings and to Him
all people will all pray and seek help because He is the deliverer.
December 20: O Key of David

LET US PRAY

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house.” +

Jesus is the Key of the House of David.

Jesus is the key who would unlock the chains of our slavery to sin. And it is Jesus who would
unlock and open the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven during his triumph over death, so that we,
as people of God, could come back into our heavenly homeland.

According to Prophet Isaiah, “what he opens, no one can shut, what he shut, no one can open…”
He will “open the eyes of the blind; bring out captives from captivity, and from the dungeon,
those who live in darkness.”
December 21: O Morning Star

LET US PRAY

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Morning Star,
splendor of light eternal and sun
and of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.”+

Contrary to popular culture, Lucifer, from the Netflix show, is not the Morning Star.

The one true morning star is Jesus.

Jesus is the light brighter and more beautiful than the sun. He is the one that dispels the darkness.
Unlike the sun that sets at the end of the day, Jesus’ light is infinite and never ending.

The prophets promised that the new day would come and the Messiah would chase away the
cloud of darkness just as God the Father had brought light out of darkness at the beginning of
time. Like the people of God long ago that have waited and waited and waited, so we too come
into this time of waiting.
December 22: O King of Nations
LET US PRAY

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.” +

As people of God, we remember the days where God sent great Kings like king David, king
Solomon, etc., now we are waiting for God to send us a new King. We pray for a King who
would bring all of God’s people together in unity.

As citizens of one world, we grow tired and weary; sometimes we lose hope that the world will
become peaceful. We turn on the news or unlock our phones, and in an instant, we see fake
news, wars, violations of human rights, quarrels among people.

We pray for God to send a new kind of leader, the King of Peace. We pray for a King who will
unite us as children of God the Father, just a stone placed in the corner to act as the connection or
bridge between walls.
December 23: O Emmanuel
LET US PRAY

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.”+

“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign, the virgin shall bear a son and all will call him
Emmanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Jesus is the Emmanuel. He is “God-with-us”, “Dyos na kasa- kasama natin”.

When we pray “And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” during the Angelus, we
remember and appreciate that God, who is infinite, became a human being who is not infinite for
us. Not only God became a human, He also lived as a human. He experienced all the things we
experienced, except for sin.

He slept, he ate, he played, he worked, he laughed, he cried, he experienced hunger, etc.

Let us appreciate that all of infinity, is contained in the body of a baby, in the body of the Holy
Child, baby Jesus. In this little baby is the hope of the entire world.
Come and save us, O Lord our God!