The O Antiphons

Preparing for Christmas During the last week before Christmas the Catholic Church uses a set of prayers called the O Antiphons. This might seem a really strange name but it is easy to explain. An antiphon is a short prayer that is used as response to a psalm or other piece of scripture They all begin with the word O and this is followed by a title for Jesus used in the Bible

They are: O wisdom in Latin Sapientia O Ruler or Lord in Latin Adonai O Root of Jesse in Latin Radix O key of David in Latin Clavis O Rising Dawn in Latin Oriens O king (of all) in Latin Rex O God with us in Latin Emmanuel They were originally written in Latin and in Latin it is a word puzzle

The Word Puzzle Work backwards from the last one take the first letter of each word. Now write the letters out you get: EROCRAS: this breaks up into two words ERO CRAS which means Tomorrow I shall be here Remember you finish saying them on Christmas Eve so it is saying tomorrow Jesus will be here

When we say them we are meant to think about the title being used and what that says about Jesus. Each of the prayers also refers to the words of Isaiah and what he said the Messiah would be like. It is meant to help us prepare to celebrate the presence of Jesus in our world

For Example take Wisdom The full prayer is: Sapientia: “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.” Isaiah had prophesied, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).

Now look at the activities