Suffering With Joy

O Rex Gentium

December 22, 2009

O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum; veni, et salva hominem quem de limo formasti.

O King of nations, and their desired One, and the cornerstone that makest both one; come and save man whom Thou formed out of clay.

Isaiah 9:7: His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Haggai 2: 7-9: And I will move all nations: and the Desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Eph. 2: 14-16: For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross…

Eph. 2: 19-20: Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…

Gen. 2: 7: And the Lord God formed man of the clay of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Jesus comes to unite all Israel and the Gentiles into one body by the Cross of salvation.  He is the cornerstone upon which the family of God is built. In today’s antiphon, we ask Him to save us – to reshape us, reform us, take away our sins, to change us into what He wants us to be, we who were formed out of clay.

Tags: Advent, O Antiphons, peace and joy