Advent Day 17 ~ Saturday of the third week of Advent   

(and the beginning of Hanukkah )

Advent themes are all about waiting for light to shine in our darkness.
For we who are Christians await, Jesus, Yeshua, who is for us the Light of the World.
We prepare a place for him to shine in our own hearts this day.
We invite you to search out your own inner meaning whatever that might be.

Hanukkah begins on Sunday after sundown. We honor our Jewish brothers and sisters with these words that appear in the Catholic liturgy just before Christmas, one of the seven magnificent O-Antiphons that begin on this day–seven days before Christmas Eve.

O Adonai and Ruler of the House of Israel,

you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and on Mount Sinai gave him your law.

Come, and with outstretched arm redeem us.

And my prayer . . .

O Adonai*, we need you in our world more than ever!

You appeared in the burning bush long ago.

I remember this awesome sunrise over the ocean when I lived  more than a decade ago on St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

I’m reminded of the old sailor’s maxim:  “Red at night, a sailor’s delight; red in the morning, sailors take warning.”

Come with your refiner’s fire and burn your way into our hearts.

so we can prepare the way for the Messiah to come into our lives,

into our homes,

our workplace and marketplace,

our neighborhoods

and, most especially into our beloved country that so badly needs You right now,

and our waiting world!

Come Lord Jesus!

______

What are  the “O” Antiphons?”

If you’re interested in learning more about them, here’s a website that has information and recordings of all seven. Click here. (Skip the first half and scroll ALL the way down to the bottom for the O-Antiphons themselves.  You will notice little speaker signs next to each one. If you click on those little music notes, it will play for you the actual chant melody for each O-Antiphon.

But before you go, here’s O come, O come Emmanuel with the lyrics that are the seven O-Antiphons in English for your reflection. Click here.

* Adonai is one of the names the Jewish people use for God, meaning “Lord God Almighty.”

And here’s some information about Hanukkah so that we can learn about our Hebrew Friends’ customs and celebrations and their meaning. Click here.

With love,

Bob Traupman

contemplative writer