Thursday 15th December - Antiphon 4; O Clavis David

 O Clavis David – O Key of David (usually sung on December 20th)

 Read through the prophecy and the words of the anthem and hymn. Listen to the plainsong a couple of times, and take five minutes to reflect. Note down thoughts that come to mind. Listen to the plainsong again.

  

from the Bible

"I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open."                 Isaiah 22:22

"His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore." Isaiah 9:7

"To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."                                 Isaiah 42:7.

 

The Antiphon; 

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

 

Translation

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The Plainsong 

from the Hymn

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Thursday 8th December - O Radix Jesse

 (Ready for next week's meeting!)

O Radix Jesse – O Root of Jesse (usually sung on December 19^th)

Read through the words below; listen to the antiphon being sung, reflect for 5 minutes...

The prophecies;

"A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots."                                                                                                                  Isaiah 11:1

"On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious."                                      Isaiah 11:10

 

The Antiphon in English;

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

 

The Antiphon in Latin;

O radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,

super quem continebunt reges os suum,

quem Gentes deprecabuntur:

veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

 

The verse from the hymn O Come, O come Emmanuel; 

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Thursday 1st December - O Adonai

This is the second of the seven 'O' Antiphons, usually usually sung on December 18th

Take some time to read the words below, then listen to the Antiphon being sung. Reflect for 5 minutes, picking out themes and words that particular come to mind.

Then listen again. 

This Antiphon takes its inspirations from these prophecies;

"[…] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins."                                                                                                                                                Isaiah 11:4-5

"For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king; he will save us."                                                                                                            Isaiah 33:22

Also compare Exodus 3:2 and Exodus 24:12

 In English

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

Who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

And gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

 

In Latin

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,

Qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,

Et ei in Sina legel dedisti:

Veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

  

From the hymn 'O come, O come Emmanuel';

O come, Adonai, Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.  

Music;

Thursday 24th November - O Sapienta

 This is the first of the seven 'O' Antiphons (this is the wikipedia link) 

It is usually sung on 17th December, at vespers, the others following every evening until the day before Christmas Eve.

O Wisdom,
coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Here is the entry from https://www.themathesontrust.org/library/the-o-antiphons

O 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)

“Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).

And here is the antiphon sung by Cantate Regensburg

The suggestion is that you read the words of the antiphon, and the related prophesies, and listen to the music once or twice. Then give yourself at least five minutes to reflect. Make a note of what comes to mind.

Then listen to the music again.

You could commit the words of the antiphon to memory, and use them as a starter for prayer through the week. 

Thursday 17th November - New Theme - The 'O' Antiphons

 For the next 5 Thursdays, we shall be reflecting on the 'O' Antiphons. I have extracted some information from wikipedia, and also given a link where all the antiphons can be found.

The plan will be to have a look at the translation and background for each antiphon, listen to it twice through (they are very short), spend about 5 minutes thinking (and maybe jotting down any ideas) and finally sharing anything if we want to. We'll finish by listening through again maybe, or whatever seems good at the time.

I found that the words of the antiphon make a useful 'hook' for prayers during the week.  

All the antiphons can be found by following this link;

https://www.themathesontrust.org/library/the-o-antiphons

MUSIC

I heard the voice of Jesus Say

O Come O come Emmanuel - Voces 8

Other source; Wikipedia which is where the information below comes from;

The O Antiphons (also known as the Great Advent Antiphons or Great Os) are Magnificat antiphons used at vespers on the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions. They likely date to sixth-century Italy, when Boethius refers to the text in The Consolation of Philosophy. They subsequently became one of the key musical features of the days leading up to Christmas.

The texts are best known in the English-speaking world in their paraphrased form in the hymn "O Come, O Come,

 

There were many later traditions throughout the Middle Ages surrounding their performance, and Amalarius wrote a detailed commentary on them in the ninth century.

The first letters of the titles, from last to first, appear to form a Latin acrostic, Ero cras, meaning 'Tomorrow, I will be [there]', mirroring the theme of the antiphons. This is formed from the first letter of each title – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia. Such acrostics were popular among early medieval writers, and some scholars have taken this as further evidence for their antiquity, but this view is not universally accepted.

 

Each antiphon has the following structure:

·       a Messianic title preceded by "O". Example: "O Wisdom"

·       elaboration of the title: "coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things"

·       the verb "come"

·       elaboration of the request to come: "and teach us the way of prudence”