O Emmanuel - The O Antiphon Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P.

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Seventh Antiphon – December 23^nd: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel,[1] king and lawgiver,[2] desire of the nations,[3] Savior of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.

We have here a variation on the theme that Jesus, who is Emmanuel – God with us – is present in the Church and in the world as king and lawmaker; yet we need him to come again, we desire him to come and set us free from ourselves through Christ, through his saving birth, life and teaching, death and resurrection and his return in glory, all of which are implicit in our Advent prayer. Vespers on the 24^th is no longer Advent, but the first Vespers of Christmas, whose special antiphons take up the theme of the Birth of our Savior.

[1] Is. 7:14

[2] Is. 33:22

[3] Gen. 49:10