December 20
Readings: Isaiah 22:15-25 / Matthew 16:13-20
Pray with your family:
O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.
O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel,
you open and no one can close,
you close and no one can open:
Come and rescue the prisoners
who are in darkness and the shadow of death.
Sing with your family:
O come, o come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
CHORUS:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
CHORUS:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
Commentary:
One of Jesus' titles is "Key of David" and we also see in Matthew 16:18-19 (part of the recommended readings for this day) that Jesus gives this key to Simon Bar-Jonah, whom He renames "Peter" or "Rock." Peter becomes the Vicar of Christ as Jesus prepares to ascend when He, in threefold command, tells Peter to take care of His sheep. We are His sheep and our pope is the current successor from St. Peter, fulfilling that role of Vicar of Christ.
In this antiphon we're calling for the coming of the Key of David, which is Christ our Lord. We want Him to come again in glory. We pray for this Second Coming and wait in eager anticipation for it. Let us not forget, however, that while we pray for Him to come, He has already left His vicar to lead and guide us.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep in mind while posting:
1) Please respond ON TOPIC to the article at hand.
2) Posts more than 4 weeks old are set to automatically save new comments for moderation - so your comment may not show up immediately if you're responding to an older post.
3) The "Spam Filter" is on - and randomly messages get caught in that filter. I have no control over which messages get caught in the spam filter and those that do must wait for me to mark them as "not spam." A message caught by the spam filter may show up for a moment, making you think it posted, and then disappear. Do not assume I have deleted your comment, it's probably just the spam filter and it will show up.