OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
The O Antiphons Are Coming
If you have ever sung the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” you have sung the O Antiphons. And while this song has been sung, in recent years, throughout the Advent and Christmas season. Traditionally, these antiphons are chanted before the Magnificat during evening prayer – from December 17th thru the 23rd (a different antiphon each day). These “O” antiphons address the Christ who is coming to us with a different biblical title. Originally these were chanted in Latin, and the first letters of the titles, read in reverse order, form the acrostic (also in Latin) “Ero cras”, which means “I will be with you tomorrow”, in answer to our prayer for Christ to come to us.
This week, as we anticipate the coming of Christ . . . the dawning of the light . . . in our lives, OPreach will celebrate these O Antiphons each day.
May the Blessings of Emmanuel – God with us – rest upon each of us as we approach Christmas Day.
One of My Favorite Feasts
Of the forty-five popes who have reigned since the creation of the miraculous portrait (of Our Lady of Guadalupe), twenty-five have issued decrees concerning it. The earliest recorded decree is that of Pop Gregory XIII, dated 1575, that extended the indulgences granted by his predecessors. This implies that indulgences were granted shortly after the apparitions of 1531. Our Lady of Guadalupe was appointed National Patroness by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754. December 12 was set aside as a Day of Obligation, with an octave which could be celebrated with a special Mass and Office. The same pontiff wrote: “In the image everything is miraculous, an image emanating from flowers gathered on completely barren soil on which only prickly shrubs can grow…an image in no manner deteriorated, neither in her supreme loveliness nor in its sparkling color…God has not done likewise to any other nation.”
– Joan Carroll Cruz, Miraculous Images of Our Lady, P. 296
Let us pray: O God, of infinite compassion, you have revealed your most tender mercy in the consoling words spoken to your servant, Juan Diego, by our Lady of Guadalupe. Bless all the native peoples of the Americas and of every land and may we all come to realize that our true and lasting integrity is in Jesus, our loving Savior. Amen
Quote and prayer from Peoples Companion to the Breviary, published by the Carmelites of Indiana in 1997
Today is the Second Sunday of Advent
Today’s reading is from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark.
The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:
Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.
Today is the First Sunday of Advent
Our Advent Journey begins with the Gospel reading from Mark 13:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:”Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'”
Happy Thanksgiving
I have used these words before on this blog, and I still can think of none better than those of our Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart:
If the only prayer you pray in your life is thank you, it will be enough.
The Wisdom of John Steinbeck
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
– John Steinbeck
Is Your Heart Open to Beauty or to Worries?
If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset.
– Krishnamurti
How Far Have You Traveled?
We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.
– Henry Ward Beecher
Clap Along If You Feel like a Room without a Roof
People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.
– Anton Chekhov
What Do You Hear from the Mountains?
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
– John Muir
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