Church, with Advent Wreath and Christmas Tree

This Friday is the day the campus closes, and next Monday we monks will begin our annual retreat. That day, the Church begins the lead up to Christmas by starting to use in its prayers what are called the “O Antiphons”. They are called that because they all begin with “O”, followed by one of Jesus’ mystical titles, the titles which taken together make up the hymn we sang at the end of the first reading tonight, “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.”

The first Antiphon begins “O Wisdom.” O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end of creation to the other with power, and kindly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence. Wisdom is important, but God’s wisdom we need to be taught because it is so different from human wisdom. God’s wisdom made Jesus different from the Savior everyone expected. His mother was a very young woman, maybe only 14 years old, discovered to be pregnant before she was officially married. His father was a nobody, a carpenter living far away from his ancestral home. Jesus himself was born on the road away from home, and the town where he would grow up was a poor backwater from which no good could be expected.

This week the Jewish people are celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights, and on December 21, the darkest day of the year, the O Antiphon is O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness. Jesus Christ came to save us from our weakness, failings and sins, our own personal darkness and the darkness of the world. And what it means to be saved is to be reconciled with God, who is sinless and perfect, and from whom our sins separate us, whether we know it or not. None of us deserves to be saved and surely none of us earns our salvation and reconciliation. Jesus offers it to us if we accept it.

The O Antiphon for December 22 is: O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust! The Magi, the three Kings, recognized Jesus as the King of Nations. To see him and know him as the Messiah, the Son of God, meant then and still means now that one has to see not with the practical eyes of human beings bogged down with the business of the world, but with the eyes of wisdom and faith in God. One hundred and twenty-three years ago little Adolf Hitler attended a Benedictine School like this, just like you, and he went to Church just like you, and studied theology and the humanities, just like you. Each one of us can be like Adolf Hitler, a hateful inhuman tragedy, or like Jesus, a loving blessing. We have the power to be either.

We can give birth to him in our lives or we can try to kill him by the way we live. The baby Jesus whose birth we will celebrate again this year grew up like each of us. He undoubtedly learned human discipline from his mother and Joseph. He underwent his greatest tragedy for a period of three days from which he emerged triumphant, resurrected. So, we celebrate His birthday because he did not keep this ultimate success to himself, but He shares it with us. His birthday is time of joy for us because, out of love for undeserving us, he gave us the gift that, if we are wise and see the light, means the most to us. And so, in memory of Him we give gifts to those we love.

Advent Service and Christmas Blessing
(December 12, 2023)

Can you believe that love is the strongest thing, the strongest force in the world, stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger even than death? Can you believe that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the brightness of the Boundless Love which created the universe, you and me? If so, then you will keep Christmas well and it will be happy for you. And if you can keep it for that one day, why not keep it every day? So, at Christmas let’s focus on what is really important in our lives. In whatever way God is calling you and inviting you to come closer, to be happier, the monks prayer for you this Christmas is that you do hear, listen and respond, and that therefore you become happier in your life, And above all, that you arrive at the destination of perfect happiness that God has designed just for you. May you have an Awesome and Happy Christmas and a blessed, safe and healthy New Year!

Let us pray. In this season of expectation, we prepare again to welcome you, Christ Jesus, Messiah, into the bustle of our lives and into the hard to find moments of solitude. We prepare to welcome you, Christ Jesus, Messiah, into our homes and situations along with friends and families. We prepare to welcome you, Christ Jesus, Messiah, into our hearts, and those often hidden parts of our lives. We prepare to welcome you, Christ Jesus, Messiah, for beneath the surface of your story is an inescapable fact that you entered this world as vulnerable as any one of us in order to nail that vulnerability to the cross.

Our fears, our insecurities and our sins, all that can separate us from God, were exchanged by your Grace for Love. We cannot comprehend the reasoning, only marvel that Salvation comes to us through a baby born in a stable and reaches out to a whole world in need. In this season of anticipation, we again prepare to welcome you, Christ Jesus, Messiah, into our lives. Come, Lord Jesus.

Now bow your heads for the blessing. May the blessing of joy abide WITHIN you. May the blessing of peace rest UPON you. May the blessing of love flow out THROUGH you. May you be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of the Christ child. May the blessing of Almighty God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit + Come down upon you now and remain with you forever. Amen.