O Come O Come - The O Antiphons for Advent

When we sing "O Come, Emmanuel," we are singing the ancient Christian prayer known as the O Antiphons.

Each of the "O Antiphons" highlights an Old Testament title that Christians apply to Jesus. We pray, on consecutive nights leading up to Christmas Eve: "O Come...

...O Wisdom

...O Lord

 ...O Root of Jesse

   ...O Key of David

 ...O Rising Sun

                            ...O King of the Nations

                                ...O Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us")

The Catholic Education Resource Center teaches us that "the exact origin of the O Antiphons is not known. Boethius (c. 480-524) made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time. At the Benedictine abbey of Fleury (now Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire), these antiphons were recited by the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. By the eighth century, they were in use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome. The usage of the O Antiphons was so prevalent in monasteries that the phrases, Keep your O and The Great O Antiphons were common parlance. One may thereby conclude that in some fashion the O Antiphons have been part of our liturgical tradition since the very early Church."

To read more about the O Antiphons, click here: http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/what-are-the.html

To pray the O Antiphons, day by day between today and Christmas Day, click here:  http://www.catholic.org/clife/advent/antiphons.php?id=1.

May the days that lead up to our celebration of the Nativity be filled with prayer and sincere resolve to conform our lives to Christ Jesus.