O Antiphons of Advent: Morning Star

December 21, 2025

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light.

What compelling and significant timing for the fifth name for Christ in the O Antiphons to be on the same day as the Winter Solstice! On this longest, darkest night of the year, we await, anticipate, and praise O Oriens, the Latin name for Morning Star and Radiant Dawn, trusting in the Light’s return. Of the seven names that compose the antiphons, these ancient prayer-songs from the 6th century, this one, based on the words given to Christ in Revelation, resonates most with me: “Look, I am coming soon! . . . I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End . . . I am the Root and the Offspring of David and the bright Morning Star” (from Rev. 22).

For those who have followed this blog for some time, you know I am a lover of light, of stars, of candles, of the sun and the moon. My favorite activity by far during the Advent and Christmas seasons is inaction, sitting silently in the gray of early morning with no other light but those on our Christmas tree. I’ve often quoted this instruction from Fr. Alfred Delp, martyred by the Nazis: “Light your candles quietly, such candles as you possess, wherever you are.” Even facing death, he trusted that light overpowers darkness.

Here we are, some 85 or so years from Hitler’s rule, still in the midst of political unrest, of inequality, of wars, of doubts and fears that persist throughout the years. Yet still, through the darkness, the Light does shine. It happens every single day when the sun rises up and over the horizon once more, and we open our window shades to the grace of new beginnings. We’ve been gifted another day to shine, to be courageous enough to light our candles and to extend those flames to another.

Who needs our light? Perhaps the person behind us in the check-out line, the exhausted mother trying to live up to holiday expectations, the child hurt by that same mother’s impatience, an Uber driver, the friend saying goodbye to a beloved pet, the person facing a first Christmas without a loved one, the one with whom we live daily.  Light shines in any form of compassion. Or maybe the one who needs the light is us. Yes, each one of us, to illuminate our own shadows and burn away any darkness in ourselves. O Come, O Come, Morning Star.

“The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it” (John 1:5). This promise is a reality and a gift for all of us. Together, in these final days of Advent, may we reflect the Light across the world.

O Morning Star, you are the splendor of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and shine on us and on all who sit in darkness. You offer us another day of life. Help us not to take that gift for granted but to celebrate it. Show us how to shine our own lights, no matter how small or insignificant we may think they are, on a world dwelling in fear and sorrow. Grant us in this season of gift-giving the gift of light and then embolden us to share it.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2).

Blessings to you ~ Rosemary

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: Amy Grant, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHt41biMcY

Photo credit: Rosemary McMahan