December 20

 
Traditional Antiphon
O Key of David, and sceptre of the house of Israel! Who openest, and no man shutteth: who shuttest, and no man openeth; come, and lead the captive from prison, sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
 
Liturgy of the Hours
O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of heaven: come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people into freedom.
 
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
O come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
 
Virtue: Hope – “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.”[i] In the many times we have seen “darkness and shadow of death” in history it is hope that have gotten people through. Those in the consecration camps of the Holocaust or work camps of communist Russia say that it was hope that got them through. “Hope is the strongest source of fortitude. If you trust God’s promises of the incomparable happiness of heaven, you can give up any earthly good or endure any earthly deprivation for that. ‘Man can endure almost any how if only he has a why’, wrote Viktor Frankl from the Auschwitz death camp (Man’s Search for Meaning). A ‘why’ is a hope, a goal, a meaning and purpose to your life.”[ii] When times get difficult in the kingdom of this world it is the desire for God’s kingdom and heaven that brings us happiness. Negro Spirituals, which were sung by the salves during their work, helped to live out the virtue of hope as they kept their eyes on heaven. Many songs like “Michael row your boat ashore” and “Swing, low sweet chariot” speak of the desire to be brought home to the promise land of heaven. It is our trust in Christ’s promise that helps us have strength that things will get better, even if getting better means the after life. It was the promise of the Messiah that got the people of Israel through tough times.
 
Search: Hope
 
Sacraments: Reconciliation – When is it that we are “sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death” that we are “captive”? When we are captive to sin we sit in the darkness and shadow of death. Especially, when we are in mortal sin, we are dead spiritually. How is the prison door opened, the prison walls broken down? It is through Reconciliation. It is Christ, the royal power of Israel, who gives the “power” to the priest to absolve sins. The priest says, “ God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[iii]These words have power, because they are through Christ and His Church. They have the power to break down walls and open prison doors. It is Christ who instituted this sacraments saying “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.”[iv]It is through the sacrament of Reconciliation that Christ has given the priests the power to open and shut doors, by forgiving and retaining sin.

Search: Reconciliation 
Search: Reconciliation (Bandana Skit) 
 
Reflection:
O Jesus, Son of David! heir to his throne and his power! thou art now passing over, in thy way to Bethlehem, the land that once was the kingdom of thy ancestor, but now is tributary to the Gentiles. Scarce an inch of this ground which has not witnessed the miracles of the justice and the mercy of Jehovah, thy Father, to the people of that old Covenant, which is so soon to end. Before long, when thou hast come from beneath the virginal cloud which now hides thee, thou wilt pass along this same road doing good [Acts, x. 36.], healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity [St Matth. iv. 23.], and yet having not where to lay thy head? [St. Luke, ix. 58.] Now, at least, thy Mother's womb affords thee the sweetest rest, and thou receivest from her the profoundest adoration and the tenderest love. But, dear Jesus, it is thine own blessed will that thou leave this loved abode. Thou hast, O Eternal Light, to shine in the midst of this world's darkness, this prison where the captive, whom thou art come to deliver, sits in the shadow of death. Open his prison-gates by thy all-powerful key. And who is this captive, but the human race, the slave of error and vice? Who is this Captive, but the heart of man, which is thrall to the very passions it blushes to obey? Oh! come and set at liberty the world thou hast enriched by thy grace, and the creatures whom thou hast made to be thine own Brethren.

[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Section 1817
[ii] Peter J. Kreeft; Catholic Christianity; page 194
[iii] Rite of Reconciliation
[iv] John 20:20-23