O Adonai

December 18

The O Antiphons offer a sweep of Salvation History leading up to its fulfillment in the coming of Christ. Each of them gestures toward and calls for this redemption. Today’s antiphon, O Adonai, recalls for us Moses, who encountered the living God on Mount Horeb (in the burning bush) and Mount Sinai (receiving the law). The mountaintop is a place of encounter in the life of Moses. In the new dispensation, however, the incredible mercy of God does not require us to rise to his level. Rather, a revolution occurs when God descends in the Incarnation! The true Adonai, Jesus, extends his arm in a saving act, lifting up his fallen people, bringing them hope.

It is important for us to explicitly name the hope that has been extended to us, identifying its concrete expression in our lives. In the chapter on the “Tools for Good Works,” St. Benedict concludes his list of seventy-four items with the poignant injunction, “Never lose hope in God’s mercy.” I might adjust the language slightly: “Never lose sight of the hope God extends in his mercy.” We don’t need to go searching for a burning bush or a new set of commandments to find hope—nothing extraordinary. We just need to pay attention to what has already been given to us. God’s activity, his mercy, is decisive in our experience of hope. Today we get to notice it and live from it.

O Lord, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the flame of the bush, and gave him the law on Sinai: come to redeem us in your outstretched arm.