O Oriens

 As the birth of the Savior approaches and as the days are about to get longer, O Oriens, becomes a panegyric on Christ the light of the world (John 8:12), whom we proclaim in the Nicene Creed as, light from light and true God from true God. The incarnate divine light is born in the darkness of our world, and as December 21^stis the shortest day of the year, Christ appears as the true Sol Invictus, the true Unconquered Sun. He is the Oriens ex alto/the dawn from on high whom the Church celebrates every morning in the Benedictus. The Advent mystery makes real what one reads in Wisdom 7:26, that Wisdom (recall O Sapientia on December 17) is a reflection of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness. As we prayed yesterday in O Clavis, we pray again today that the Lord come (veni) and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, but we cannot do this without recalling again the Benedictus which concludes with the words illuminare his, qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent, ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis/enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death and guide our feet into the way of peace.