Saturday, December 22, 2012

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of the nations and their Savior. Come and save us, O Lord our God.

The verses that make up the final antiphon are Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 33:22.

Our Gospel for the final Sunday of Advent is St. Luke's account of the Blessed Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth, who, after a life of barrenness, was pregnant with John the Baptist. Immediately after the Blessed Virgin greets her, Elizabeth said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

Franz Anton The Visitation- 1771-77. Fresco in St. Nicholas Cathedral, Vác, Hungary

Emmanuel, God with us. How does this happen to me, that the Lord Himself comes to me in the bread and in the wine? How does it happen that the Lord comes to me daily in so many distressing disguises?

Since this episode is the second of the five Joyful mysteries of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is worth pointing out that the fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor, one Jesus' two great commandments, the one St Paul says "fulfills the law" (Gal. 5:14).

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