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Advent, cornerstone, humankind, joy, kestone, king, O Antiphons, O Come O Come Emanuel, Prince of Peace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
I have failed to mention during this journey through the O Antiphons that some of us are quite familiar with them, perhaps without knowing it. The song that is sung most often during the entire Advent season in many Christian churches is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Some of us don’t realize that there are seven verses to this hymn because they are rarely all sung and frequently it is the first two or three that we hear. Thus, we are not exposed to all the antiphons on which the verses are based. I was reminded of this fact this morning as I looked at different translations of today’s antiphon. Below is a translation of the actual antiphon and then the verse of the song. Although the message is similar, often certain words call to us in different ways. See which you prefer as a theme for reflection today.
ANTIPHON: O, King of all the Nations, the only joy of every human heart, O Keystone of the mighty arch of humanity, the Cornerstone that binds two into one, come and save the creatures that you have fashioned from the dust!
SONG VERSE: O, come, Desired of Nations, bind in one the hearts of all humankind. Bid us our sad divisions cease and be for us our Prince of Peace.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 