O Radiant Dawn, Come!

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Alleluia, dawn, O Antiphons, radiant dawn, Silent Night, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There it is…in the lectionary readings for this morning, my favorite of the “O Antiphons.” I can feel the rising in my heart as I remember all the glorious sunrise experiences that I have known, both physical and spiritual. Whether at the top of Mount Haleakala on the island of Maui, Hawai’i or in church at midnight singing “Silent Night” I have been gifted with a faith that knows the kind of birth that “destroys death forever.” Just as the dark of night is always followed by dawn and as the great sorrows of life are assuaged by the light of love offered by time and true loved ones, so too may we know peace in this dark moment when disasters and violence are everywhere and cold is colder than we have known it before.

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Alleluia, alleluia!

Christ Is Coming Soon!

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Christmas, Emmanuel, Isaiah, Jesus, Malachi, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I read the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ offering of the lectionary readings for the day, I am occasionally stopped by a line or two that rankles or makes me squirm a little. We’re very close now to Christmas, the “feel-good” holiday. It’s surprising, I guess, that I would be experiencing the opposite feeling two days before Christmas. I’m singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and loving the titles given to Christ by Isaiah’s writings (e.g. O Radiant Dawn or O Key of David…) not expecting Malachi’s insertions of counterintuitive questions such as the following:

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire…he will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi…

Does that include us? Must we leave our “heaven and nature” singing of “joy to the world” because “the Lord is come?” I think not, but there is a caution in this message from the prophet Malachi. Jesus was born into this world – this great and wonderful world – to show us the way to navigate all the joys and sorrows, the gifts and tests that help us grow into our true selves, to become more conscious with each turning of the earth that we are beings of light, made in the image of God, here to mirror that image to the world each day. The celebration of Christmas reminds us of the privilege and the responsibility of that birthing that is ours in imitation of the Christ who is coming to walk the path with us with new vigor each time we experience this commemorative moment.

The sun is strong this morning. Let us now prepare for Christmas, as the “Radiant Dawn” appears in the sky of our lives, offering to us the Word of Life!

Almost There

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Christ, Emmanuel, enlighten, hope, Joseph, journey of faith, King of the Nations, Mary, O Antiphons, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Although away from the internet for two days, I have been very present to the O Antiphons. My favorite (except for the last but easily twinned with it) is the fifth, translated variously as “Rising Sun,” “Morning Star” or “Dayspring.” I prefer my own rendition (which I did not invent but heard somewhere along my journey of faith). As I wait today for the light to come, signaling a new day, my heart hopes for the sun to break forth over the mountain across the river. Such a powerful symbol of returning light can awaken me to a new day as nothing else can and so is best described as “Radiant Dawn.”

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of light eternal and sun of righteousness, come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The sixth antiphon, wherein Christ is called “King of the Nations,” breaks all the definitional laws of how the world sees a ruler. Coming as a helpless baby to a poor family, living as a carpenter’s apprentice and then an itinerant preacher and lover of all certainly topples all notions of kingship. Isaiah describes his reign as follows: He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they train for war again. (IS 2:4) Is this not the king we long for? The one we know to bring us to a new “radiant dawn?”

O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.

This is the one we call Emmanuel, God with us. I will save consideration of this Great Light until tomorrow when the birthing begins and the promise is ready to be revealed.

Take the Leap

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Jesus, light of the world, radiant dawn, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, today is the darkest day of the year and yet the readings for today fairly shout with gladness because of the closeness of the “Radiant Dawn” about which we sing, that is, the coming of Emmanuel (God-with-us). He comes, the Hebrew Scriptures say, “springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills” calling us to come to Him. And when Mary entered the house of her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the infant in her womb (John the Baptist) “leaped for joy” in recognition.

Today, the psalm refrain calls us to EXULT! and to “sing a new song to the Lord.” What is it, I might ask myself, about the coming of Christ into the world that will make my heart leap for joy? And how will that change my life in the world? He’s coming soon, so I need to prepare today to take that leap!