A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the Third Week of Advent, by Father Perry.
+ As the expression goes: “It was so close you could taste it.”
We are not quite through with the third week of Advent and we begin to taste the genealogy, the passing on of the heritage to the generations to come, the fulfillment through the line of David, the imminent coming of the Lord the Messiah.
And that genealogy is dramatic as it shares the numbers of generations, and from David to the Babylonian exile, then from the Babylonian exile to the Christ.
Perfectly scripted and harmonically voiced with names that are as unpronounceable as they are almost melodic.
But under it all, what you can really taste is that through this lineage and through these promised individuals is the realization that, as the psalmistproclaims: “justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.”
And just how does the word come to this, and just how do we truly discover these truths and these promises fulfilled?
One absolutely delicious way is in the “O” antiphons that begin this day and run for nine days until Christmas.
The “O” antiphon that begins it all in the verse before the Gospel sings out: “O wisdom of our God most high, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge.”
Yes, O wisdom, come!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
