O Dawn

O Dawn, splendor of eternal light and sun of justice: come!  Give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death!

What do we see through the round window of O Dawn?

We find ourselves enveloped in chaotic darkness, thick enough to feel, and full of unseen terrors.  Disoriented, the sound of crash and gallop send fearsome specters dancing through the mind.  And yet this is a pierced darkness – darkness into which light has shone.  Our forebears knew God as lord of light and of darkness, whose first words were, “Let there be light!” and who led them through the night with a pillar of fire.  They called on him to shine again on their failing kingdom as rising sun of revitalization, as sun of justice with healing in its wings, setting right all that was at odds with God’s law.  They never ceased to hope for the star rising out of Jacob, who would bring about the full realization of Israel’s vocation and destiny as a light to the nations.

What are we asking for?  What is our need, our desire, our hope?

We need to be enlightened.
We need the sun of justice to shine on all who are oppressed by night, deprived of light, heat, and the necessities of daily life, plagued by fear of sudden destruction, and a parent’s worst nightmare: the terrible prospect of not being able to provide protection and sustenance for their children.  We need to pierce the darkness of those suffering from depression, anxiety and so many other forms of mental illness, which run rampant amid the confusion, the obscurity, the loss of landmarks in our times.  We need the sun to rise on our night of ignorance, prejudice, lies, half-truths and conflicting testimonies, false information, corruption, and culture of suspicion and mutual distrust.

We stand in the name of the Church and for the people of the world we pray: Come to us, O Dawn, O Daystar, O Rising Sun, pierce our darkness with the rays of faith, hope, love, justice and truth.  Shine on our path into an unknown future, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Image: Linda Witte Henke, The Great O Antiphons