December 20, 2004

In this final countdown week before Christmas, the Church gives us a wonderful series of meditations on the identity of Christ, called the "O Antiphons." There is a different O Antiphon for each day, heard during the Gospel Acclamation at Mass and as the antiphon for the Magnificat during Evening Prayer. Each verse of the song "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" also uses these 7 antiphons. These are titles of Christ that are found in the Old Testament, but their meaning only fully comes to light in the New Testament.

Today's antiphon, for example, is about the "Key of David." There is a reference to this key in Isaiah 22:22 being handed to Eliakim and resting on his shoulder. If we imagined this key like our own small house keys or car keys that would seem rather unusual. However, a key in the Old Testament times was a large wooden device used to unlock large gates. Imagine a gate like you would see in a "Lord of the Rings" movie. The locks had large metal pins that would be pushed by the rods on the large wooden key.

In Revelation 3:7 the Lord Jesus is spoken of as "the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens." Can you imagine the Lord carrying a large wooden device on His shoulder? ....Exactly. We see it displayed in the Stations of the Cross. The Cross is the key that unlocks the pins of our sins. On His shoulder dominion rests, a dominion that conquers by humble love, the most powerful force on earth and in Heaven. The identity of the Lord Jesus will and must always be related to the Cross-key. This same O antiphon invites the Key of David to "free us from the dungeon of sin and darkness." As we adore the infant Christ, we adore the Key of David, who by His holy Cross has redeemed the world.

Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
Community Vicar, residing at St. Joseph Friary in Harlem, New York
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