Solemn Vespers

"O Root of Jesse...​O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum...who standest for an ensign for the people..." Antiphon for Solemn Vespers at the Cathedral

On  Wednesday, the Cathedral parish was blessed by the opportunity to pray Solemn Vespers with our Bishop and the men's chant schola, directed by Fr. Keyes. Vespers during these last days leading up to Christmas is marked by the beautiful "O Antiphons". These antiphons, as our Bishop remarked in his homily, are "a wonderful, gradual exposition of who Christ is, of where He comes from". Each of the antiphons has as its refrain "Come" followed by a petition imploring from our Lord those things we most need: His salvation, His company, His very self.

Focus on the petition.... Recite that simple prayer, that pleading, "Come to deliver us and tarry not." When we say that, it draws our heart to a hopefullness, to a kind of pleading that says "Do not forsake us. Come, O Lord, into our midst, come deliver us, come save us, come be with us, come and manifest your power in our midst." ~ Bishop Vasa

The petition for December 19 is "Come, deliver us and tarry not". We plead with a certain confidence for His deliverance, His presence among us. Of this antiphon, Dom Gueranger poeticly writes:

"At length, O Son of Jesse! Thou art approaching the city of Thy ancestors. The Ark of the Lord has risen, and journeys, with the God that is in her, to the place of her rest. ‘ How beautiful are thy steps, O thou daughter of the Prince,’ now that thou art bringing to the cities of Judah their salvation.! The angels escort thee, thy faithful Joseph lavishes his love upon thee, heaven delights in thee, and our earth thrills with joy to bear thus upon itself its Creator and its Queen. Go forward, O Mother of God and Mother of men! Speed thee, thou propitiatory that holdest within thee the divine Manna which gives us life! Our hearts are with thee, and count thy steps. Like thy royal ancestor David, ‘we will not enter into the dwelling of our house, nor go up into the bed whereon we lie, nor give sleep to our eyes, nor rest to our temples, until we have found a place in our hearts for the Lord whom thou bearest, a tabernacle for this God of Jacob.’ Come, then, O Root of Jesse !  thus hidden in this Ark of purity; Thou wilt soon appear before Thy people as the standard round which all that would conquer must rally. Then their enemies, the kings of the world, will be silenced, and the nations will offer Thee their prayers. Hasten Thy coming, dear Jesus! come and conquer all our enemies, and deliver us."