“O RISING SUN” (DECEMBER 21)- A REFLECTION ON THE GREAT “O” ANTIPHONS FOR THE SECOND PART OF ADVENT

Today’s supplication to Christ at Mass and at Vespers goes thus:

“O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

Dear friends, with the antiphon “O RISING SUN!”, the world patiently awaits the advent of the One who would illuminate its darkness, which the worldly sun cannot do. To that effect, God himself prophesied that He would be the Everlasting Light of his people, the One coming to rise above and replace the worldly sun and moon (cf. Is 60:19-20); thus, the priest Zachariah at the coming of Christ (the Rising Sun) with full knowledge of Isaiah’s prophecy, makes known the reality in his canticle: “through the loving mercy of our God, the Rising Sun has come to visit us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Lk 1:78-79)
And we, living today in the midst of the “darkness” of the world, the confusion of values and ideals of our age, ask that the splendour of light radiating the Nativity of Christ, penetrate the obscurity of the world so that mankind could benefit from that Everlasting Light, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to put an end to the long night of the elect.