Today we start the “O Antiphons”.  We hear these beautiful antiphons when Evening Prayer is said (part of the Liturgy of the Hours) right before and after the Magnificat is prayed.  You may also be familiar with them from the song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”.

The O Antiphons are the titles given by the prophet Isaiah for the Messiah and they always start on December 17, and highlight the octave before Christmas.  They give us a beautiful insight into the “personality” of Christ.

Today is O Sapientia, or O Wisdom.

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.

Wisdom becomes personified, a prefigurement of Jesus, the Word of God.  It is Wisdom that is the foundation of fear of the Lord, it is wisdom who we urge “Come”; teach us, lead us, save us.

I’ve been doing a lot of Scripture reading today while preparing my talk for the Team Orthodoxy retreat later this week.  As we come to the end of our Advent season, today is a good day to spend some time with the Word of God.  Read the beginning of the Gospel of John to yourself and to your family, let Wisdom come and open your heart to the magnificence of the reality of the Word made Flesh!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.                                                        – John 1:1-14

What else we did for Advent today:

Advent Wreath

Sacrifice Manger

Jesse Tree

Advent Calendar

Praying for Others