O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, expectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster.
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the One for whom the gentiles longed and their Saviour, come and save us, O Lord our God!
We come to the last and one of the shortest of the O antiphons, but a great deal is encompassed in its few words: Heaven and earth in little space, Res Miranda as the medieval carol says.
The first time we hear the name Emmanuel is in the prophecy of Isaiah to Ahaz: (Isaiah 8,10) ‘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’. At that time ‘God-with-us’ would have brought to mind the Holy of Holies in the Ark of the Covenant in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem but the fulfilment of the prophecy is the birth of a baby to the poor humble virgin Mary in a small obscure village. Today’s collect explicitly mentions the birth of God’s Son in human flesh though the O Antiphon itself does not.
The perspective of the earlier antiphons opens out to include ALL the nations to the ends of the earth, ALL people of good will; the longing and yearning of all human beings down the long ages from the dawn of time has been answered by the presence of Emmanuel, God-with-us, in our own human flesh and nature. No matter how alone we may feel, no matter how fragile, sinful, desolate, we shall never be forsaken.
The French 17th century preacher, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, says somewhere that after all the majestic titles of the Great Os, when the Christ-Child is born there is nothing left to say but simply babble: O! O! O!
The shape of O is a great emptiness reminding us that it is our neediness, our lack, which is our great claim upon the generosity of God. Surely the Lord cannot resist the cry of our suffering world, our desperately needy planet. Come, save us from all that threatens us, war, terrorism, climate change; save us from ourselves, save us from sin and death, come and heal us, make us truly safe.
Sr Philippa
Text ©Stanbrook Abbey 2024
Image: Donatello, Madonna Pazzi, c. 1420 (Wikipedia Commons)