O Key of David

O Key of David, scepter of the house of Israel, what you open, none can shut, and what you shut, none can open: Come!  Bring the prisoner out of his dungeon where he sits in darkness and the shadow of death!

Unspoken in this antiphon but present in the prisoner’s longing are the images of light, open doors, spaciousness, freedom.  O Son of David, let your compassionate Heart be touched by the plight of the countless prisoners of our time:  victims of human trafficking, of addictions, of anxious fear of what is coming, as they wait, cast off, forgotten, despairing.

OUT OF THE DEPTHS I CRY TO YOU, O LORD, 
LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER!
O LET YOUR EARS BE ATTENTIVE TO THE VOICE
 OF MY PLEADING!
IF YOU, O LORD SHOULD MARK OUR GUILT, LORD, WHO WOULD SURVIVE?
BUT WITH YOU, O LORD, IS FOUND FORGIVENESS; FOR THIS WE REVERE YOU...
MY SOUL IS LONGING FOR THE LORD MORE THAN WATCHMEN FOR DAYBREAK
LET THE WATCHMEN COUNT ON DAYBREAK AND ISRAEL ON THE LORD. (1)


1)  Ps.129