{"id":198,"date":"2013-12-18T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=198"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:51:34","slug":"the-advent-o-antiphons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2013\/12\/18\/the-advent-o-antiphons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Advent &#8220;O Antiphons&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday December 18<\/p>\n<p>Today I am indulging in a musical\/poetry tradition most dear to me, the seven great &#8220;O Antiphons&#8221; for the closing days of Advent in the Christian tradition.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>December 17: O Sapientia (<em>O\u00a0<a title=\"Wisdom\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wisdom\">Wisdom<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 18: O Adonai (<em>O\u00a0<a title=\"Lord\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lord\">Lord<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 19: O Radix Jesse (<em>O\u00a0<a title=\"Tree of Jesse\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tree_of_Jesse\">Root of Jesse<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 20: O Clavis David (<em>O Key of\u00a0<a title=\"David\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/David\">David<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 21: O Oriens (<em>O Dayspring<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 22: O Rex Gentium (<em>O King of the nations<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>December 23: O Emmanuel (<em>O\u00a0<a title=\"Emmanuel\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emmanuel\">With Us is God<\/a><\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The seven last days of the Advent Season have embedded in short prayer-poems a day-by-day slow motion crescendo in\u00a0Gregorian Chant. \u00a0They date at least to the 8th century, probably a couple hundred years earlier than that. \u00a0I am a sucker for the Latin chant versions. \u00a0 One December, about the 22nd of the month, I was driving home from visiting friends in Pittsburgh along Hw 80 in Ohio. \u00a0At some not too busy point, I pulled over, \u00a0got out on the passenger side, stood there book in hand, and sang all seven antiphons. \u00a0 At least until a state trooper pulled up behind me, got out and came up. \u00a0&#8220;Sir, what are you doing?&#8221; \u00a0 I explained. \u00a0The trooper told me that the side of a freeway was not a good (nor legal) place to stand and sing strange prayers. \u00a0There was a legitimate pull off in a half mile down the road. \u00a0No ticket but, I suspect he told his wife about this one that night along with whatever other crazies he had encountered that day.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s today&#8217;s antiphon sung in chant (the last part seems to be cut off) \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CvafrxZ_Ww4\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CvafrxZ_Ww4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">a translation<\/span>: \u00a0&#8220;O Lord, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, \u00a0and gave to him the law on Mount Sinai, \u00a0Come to redeem us with your strong \u00a0outstretched arm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2013\/12\/Die-17-Decembris.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-199\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2013\/12\/Die-17-Decembris.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2013\/12\/Die-17-Decembris.jpg 400w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2013\/12\/Die-17-Decembris-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The first letters of the seven titles taken backwards form a Latin\u00a0<a title=\"Acrostic\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Acrostic\">acrostic<\/a>\u00a0of &#8220;Ero Cras&#8221; which translates to &#8220;Tomorrow, I will be there&#8221;, mirroring the theme of the antiphons.<\/p>\n<p>Word to the wise. \u00a0If you get in a habit of \u00a0singing these, don&#8217;t do it by the side of the highway.<\/p>\n<p>Advent blessings.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday December 18 Today I am indulging in a musical\/poetry tradition most dear to me, the seven great &#8220;O Antiphons&#8221; for the closing days of Advent in the Christian tradition. December 17: O Sapientia (O\u00a0Wisdom) December 18: O Adonai (O\u00a0Lord) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2013\/12\/18\/the-advent-o-antiphons\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1086,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}