O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio
Gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.O
Emmanuel, God with us, our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and
their Savior: Come to save us, O Lord our God (Is 7:14; 33:22).
All is fulfilled now in Jesus. In the previous days you would have noticed the Messiah as he was expected in the Scriptures. Today, we address Jesus with the title given by God, Emmanuel --"God with us."
The promise of God the Father pitching His among us is known so clearly in the Incarnation of the Word. This antiphon is the climax of all expectations for a Savior who ushers in a new time in history where everything, everything is reversed (see the Prophet Isaiah). "The very term Emmanuel, God with us, reveals the kindly, human heart of Jesus --He wants to be one of us, a Child of man, with all our human weakness and suffering; He wants to experience how hard it is to be man. He wants to remain with us to the end, He wants to dwell within us, He wants to make us share His nature" (Pius Parsch). Come, Lord, Jesus.
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