Advent Meditations: Tuesday 17 December
| Tues Dec 17 |
am: 48, 52 pm: 50 |
Genesis 49:2, 8-10 | 1Thess 5:12-end | Matt 1:1-13 |
Notes on the Liturgical Feast for Today : O Sapientia
The second part of Advent begins on this day marking the Octave of Christmas. We read the stories of faithful women and men who prepared the way for our salvation. We enter into the story of how Jesus’ life began. These stories are filled with hints of what his life will mean for us. Faith and generosity overcome impossibility. Poverty and persecution reveal glory.
They are referred to as the “O Antiphons” because the title of each one begins with the “O” followed by a name for Christ, based on one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the O Antiphons are sung or recited at Vespers from December 17 to December 23 inclusive (but see note below on the alternative English usage). In the Church of England they have held pride of place by inclusion in the Kalendar of The Book of Common Prayer where the first antiphon O Sapientia is noted on December 16 . In the Anglican tradition the O Antiphons have been used as antiphons to the Magnificat at Evening Prayer during this period beginning on 16 December.
Biblical Meditation : In today’s Gospel taken from the Roman Lectionary for the Mass of the Day, St. Matthew is telling his early Christian community about Jesus through the lineage of his ancestry. It is worthy of noting that the word “genealogy” is taken from the Greek, word we use for “genesis” the name of the first book of the Bible. Just as the Old Testament marks the beginning of the Old Testament story of God and his creation in the opening of the New Testament we have the beginning of the story of Jesus, which is about how God redeems that creation. That is why Matthew writes that, in Jesus, God has made a new creation, a new Adam. The text for some is monotonous and some are inclined skip over these first seventeen verses of Matthew, but something important is going on as Matthew tells us, is how Jesus is related to Old Testament …. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Jesus is clearly connected. This is the season for us to connect with him.
PRAYER: Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
Spiritual Discipline /Activity – Seek our Spiritual Counsel and Direction today on some key spiritual questions and issues that you feel are keeping you from growing in your faith and take that wisdom to heart in this season.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “A mind that has found spiritual wisdom is like a man who finds a fully equipped ship at sea, and once he has gone aboard, it brings him from the sea of this world to the isle of the age to come. ” ― St. Isaac of Nineveh
“O” Antiphon: 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
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