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O Emmanuel
Latin:
- O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
- exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
- veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.
English:
- O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
- the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
- Come and save us, O Lord our God.
I recommend today’s blog post by ‘Godzdogz, the English Dominican Studentate’:
Emmanuel means “God is with us”, and with the birth of the Saviour, this beautiful idea becomes reality in a way beyond compare. Whilst it is true that God has always been with us, the Incarnation radically changed His manner of being “with us.” The most sacred item for the people of the Old Testament was the Ark of the Covenant, but from the moment of the Incarnation, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Ark of the New Covenant) she held within her womb the Word of God in the flesh.
So as we near the end of Advent, the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14) nears its fulfilment:
The maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Emmanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us”
Let us leave the last word on this occasion to the Society of Saint John the Evangelist Brothers, who offer a series of videos which teach about the ancient, ever new O Antiphons. In this video Br. Geoffrey Tristram reflects on seventh O Antiphon – O Emmanuel. Audio recorded in the Monastery Chapel, Cambridge, Mass. (published on 20 Dec 2013).
