Meant to post this for Gaudete Sunday --which fell on the 17th this year-- on the meaning of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Hope you're not sick of it yet (since in most parishes it's the only Advent song they know), because now's when its significance kicks in. Each of its verses corresponds to the great "O Antiphons" --7 prayers that start the liturgy from the 17th to the 23rd of December. Take it,
Fr. Guy:
Each one begins with the acclamation "O," and addresses Christ by one of His messianic titles from the Old Testament, (Wisdom, Mighty Lord, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Radiant Dawn, King of the Nations and Emmanuel) and ends with a heartfelt plea for His coming. While using Christ's messianic titles they look to His future coming and because they are from the Old Testament they also hearken to the past at the same time. In this they reflect the duality of the season as a whole.
That's nice, but here's the cool part (and where my inner Straussian kicks in):
One of the most interesting features involves a kind of encoded message via these antiphons. The initials of each of these titles in Latin (Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, and Emmanuel) combine to form the word "SARCORE". When this is arranged backwards, it spells the phrase "ERO CRAS", which means "Tomorrow, I will be." This coincidence was very suggestive to people in the Middle Ages because the beginning of the celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation on Christmas Eve (December 24th) falls on the day after the singing of the antiphons.
With God & Straussians, there are no coincidences.
