O Adonai
18/December/2007 Filed in:
JottingsIf you looked at the Roman sequence of O Antiphons yesterday, you will have been struck by the way in which they use the prophecy of Isaiah to proclaim different aspects of the Messiah. Today we ask the Lord, Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai, to come and free us with outstretched arm — a reference to Isaiah 11 (with righteousness he will judge the poor, etc.) and Isaiah 33 (the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our king, he will save us, etc.) with remembrances of the Lord's "outstretched arm" in Exodus. So, what does all this mean for us today? For a Christian, the absolute holiness of God, as seen in the Burning Bush, and the absolute primacy of God, as seen in the giving of the Law on Sinai, challenge our comfortable accommodations with the world in which we live. God is God, and he alone can save; but do we really believe that? (To listen to today's antiphon, go to the Prayer Box on the Vocation page and use the drop-down menu. Recording by courtesy of Fr Jim Tucker and the North American College.)