17th December
O Sapientia
Gen 49:2, 8-10
Mat 1:1-17
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.
Today the Church silently selects her top liturgical gear. In the seven days before Christmas every collect, every antiphon and every piece of scripture has the sharpest of focus.
The days are shaped by the texts of the Magnificat antiphons which we sing each night at Vespers. Each antiphon highlights a title of Christ, our Messiah. The Latin names of the antiphons form an acrostic.
S apientia ( Wisdom)
A donai (Lord)
R adix Jesse (Root of Jesse)
C lavis David (Key of David)
O riens (Rising Sun)
R ex Gentium (Ruler of the Nations)
E mmanuel (Emmanuel)
This spells the Latin words ero cras, I will be here tomorrow. It’s a beautiful way of keeping the last days of Advent.
Poet and priest, Malcolm Guite has written series of beautiful sonnets for the O Antiphons.
O SAPIENTIA
I cannot think unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.
I cannot teach except as I am taught,
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak,
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,
O Memory of time, reminding me,
My Ground of Being, always grounding me,
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.
Listen to Malcolm Guite read his sonnet:
https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/o-sapientia/
Look back over your week.
Where have experienced God’s strong and tender care ?
Where have you glimpsed salvation?