I wrote a blog post about the O Antiphons in 2019, and I loved picking out the image to illustrate each one.  So I have decided to post on the O Antiphons again, in order to highlight additional images and to explore the scriptural roots of the meaningful word images.  If you aren’t familiar with the O Antiphons or need a refresher, please check out my 2019 blog post here.

So today is the fourth O Antiphon out of the seven days before Christmas, in these late days of Advent intensification – just over half way through the week.

Are you still finding yourself out of balance and rushing around with last minute errands for Christmas?  Remember that reciting the words of the O Antiphon for each day takes less than a minute.  You can easily include them before and after grace at dinner or as part of your advent wreath tradition.  And if you take just another less than a minute to light a candle or your advent wreath beforehand, I promise the O Antiphons are breathtaking by candlelight!

You can find my blog post on the O Radix Jesse antiphon from yesterday here and the blog post on the O Oriens antiphon for tomorrow, here.

O Clavis David – Antiphon for December 20

O Clavis David, Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel, you open and no one can shut, you shut and no one can open: come and lead the prisoners to freedom, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel, qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris et umbra mortis.

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel:

Keys are so important to all of us, because they give us access to areas/spaces that we want to keep safe.  At the top of the list of keys that most of us use daily are car keys and house keys.  Everyone has had the terrible experience of losing their keys at one time or another.  If I misplace my keys or my phone (which is sort of a whole set of keys,) it usually sends me into a panic and I drop everything until I find them.  However, there are also keys that are symbols pertaining to authority.  The Old Testament source for the Messianic title “Key of David” is the following passage from Isaiah:

On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.  I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority.  He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.  I will place the key of the House of David on [Eliakim’s] shoulder.  When he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open.  I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.  (Isaiah 22:20-23)

Just preceding these verses, Isaiah tells us that Shebna had usurped authority in the palace in Jerusalem.  So the Key of David was given to Eliakim, as a symbol, an emblem – given to re-establish lawful governing authority, in deference to God.  I’m not quite sure what it means that the key was placed on Eliakim’s shoulder, but I think it must refer to some kind of public ceremony to demonstrate that governmental responsibility had been conferred on Eliakim.  In fact, observing the Old Testament connection between power and outstretched arms from the O Adonai antiphon two evenings ago, demonstrating strength in the shoulder would be key to supporting Eliakim’s authority.

Another connotation for the word key relates to the importance of fundamental wisdom and understanding.  This is a concept most of us recognize, from our experiences of studying at school and suddenly finding the key idea or insight that explains a whole set of other related ideas.  It is a moment of illumination.  The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus who, as the Key of David, provided his disciples with key teachings to help them begin to understand the meaning of the New Covenant.

Another key meaning and path to creativity and understanding can be considered through the use of a key on a map.  The main purpose of the key or legend on a map is to give additional information that can be used to help us to interpret the map.  We can contemplate this map-key metaphor in terms of our own personal faith development map or as the map that describes our journey within the Christian community.  What key insights have you experienced, related to the map that describes your life, as it has developed over the years?

You open and no one can shut, you shut and no one can open:

So now on to opening and shutting using keys. Here is another example in the O Antiphons where contrasts are brought into view.  Strong/gentle, beginning/ending, branch/root, and now open/shut.

Brother Jerome writes, “The Hebrew word for key means something that opens, while the Greek and Latin terms both refer to something which closes. Jesus is the Key and He can open us to infinite possibilities, just as He can also close us to shut us away from dangers. He can open our prisons and free us, but He can also lock the city gates for our safety.”

In the verse from Matthew below, immediately after Peter had proclaimed one of the two Christological confessions in the Gospels, Jesus entrusts Peter with the authority to continue His mission. (In John 11:20-27, Martha or maybe Mary Magdalene spoke the other Christological confession.)

[Jesus says to Peter] “I will entrust to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

This Messianic title for Jesus, conferred on Peter, is conferred on us as well, so we must take good care of these keys.  The key that gives us the authority of co-creation, requires great wisdom and responsibility to determine when to open and when to shut.  When a door in your life is closed, you cannot go over the threshold.  Since the threshold metaphor is connected to change and growth in our lives, it’s crucial to be able to know how and when to use the key to open the right door, so that we can cross the threshold.  The first key to that process is to first wake up (!) and become aware of the alphas and omegas in our lives.  This is important because beginnings and endings are connected with opening and shutting in the cycles of change we experience.  It sounds close to impossible to be that aware and wise, but all shall be well because God/Jesus/Wisdom is with us.

To the presiding spirit of the church in Philadelphia, write this: “The Holy One, the true, who wields David’s key, who opens and no one can close, who closes and no one can open, has this to say: “I know your deeds; that is why I have left an open door before you which no one can close.  I know that your strength is limited; yet you have held fast to my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:7-8)

Again we see, in the reading above from Revelation, that it is connected with Old Testament prophesies and the Messianic titles for Jesus.  When I began looking at the scriptural roots of the O Antiphons, I was a little surprised at how many New Testament references were there.  However, I was really surprised to find, across almost all of the O Antiphons, relevant readings from the book of Revelation.  In Revelation, we find the same sacred words and Messianic titles from the Old Testament and the New Testament gospels and letters, projected as prophesies for the future.  In this way, as we pray these O Antiphon petitions, we are reminded of where we have come from and where we are going.

Come and lead the prisioners to freedom, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The first thing that came to mind when I reflected on this idea of leading prisoners to freedom was Harriet Tubman (1822-1913.)  In 1849, Harriet escaped from slavery in Maryland to find freedom in Pennsylvania.  Nicknamed “Moses of her people,” she made 13 campaigns south to lead at least 70 slaves to freedom, along the Underground Railroad.  During the Civil War, she worked with Union troops in South Carolina as a nurse, guide, and spy.  She was also the first woman to lead a US military operation, a successful raid in 1863 that may have had a significant psychological impact on the Confederate troops.

The association between the prisoners and dwelling in darkness or existing in the shadow of death is explicit.  Who hasn’t felt that abandoned to despair at one time or another?  It’s comforting to consider that “God can still break through all of our mess, because God’s key is capable of opening up any locked room or shattering any imaginary or real glass prison we are in.”

Jesus, it’s urgent: come quickly to lead us who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death to freedom!  Do not delay!

As a reminder, here are a couple of options if you are interested in hearing the O Antiphons chanted in Latin.  First, if you click here you will go to the Traditional Catholic Living website (Reference 8) that has a link to each O Antiphon, with the words and music so that you can follow and chant along.  You can also find the chants here at an LDS blogpost (Reference 9.)  I like this link, because it includes the entire vespers sequence.  Each O Antiphon is chanted, followed by the Magnificat, finishing with the O Antiphon chanted again.

In my opinion, listening to the Gregorian chanting by candlelight is the best way to experience the O Antiphons!

 

Readings: The New American Bible, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington DC, 1970.

Reference 1: Malcolm Guite, “Oh Clavis; A Fourth Advent Antiphon and Jac Redford’s Music!” blog post, December 20, 2021.

Reference 2: What is the Key of David?, blog post at The Dwelling website, https://www.24-7worship.org/pb/wp_343368ee/wp_343368ee.html

Reference 3:  O Key of David, Mount Saint Mary’s Cistercian Abbey, Wrentham, MA, December 20, 2018. 

Reference 4: What are You Doing with Your Key? blog post, https://www.busyandlovingit.com/what-are-you-doing-with-your-key/.

Reference 5: Edith Han and Katherine Rivard, “A Beacon of Resilience and Love: Harriet Tubman,” National Parks Service website.

Reference 6: Br. Jerome OSB, “Reflections on the O Antiphons,” blog post at https://liturgy.co.nz/reflection/oantr2.html, 2011.

Reference 7: Ives Digory, O Clavis David: Meditations on the O Antiphons, blog post at Sanctum in Heremis website, December 20, 2014.

Reference 8: Sing the O Antiphons Gregorian Chant, Traditional Catholic Living website, http://www.traditionalcatholicliving.com/o-antiphons-advent/.

Reference 9: Awaiting the Coming Messiah: The “O Antiphons,” LDS Seasonal Materials, http://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/12/awaiting-coming-messiah-o-anitiphons.html.

Image 1:  O Clavis David, Fr. Lawrence Lew, ancient lock and bolt of the door to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, flickr.com, May 5, 2019. 

Image 2: My Mess of Keys, Photo by Julie Henkener, December 14, 2022.

Image 3:  Old Royal Key With a Cross Shaped Hole, photo by Ivan Radic, flickr.com, Creative Commons, March 20, 2019.

Image 4: Photo by R.D. Law, https://pixabay.com/photos/skeleton-key-antique-old-world-wood-3886500/. December 23, 2018.