island life- in a monastery: UNIVERSAL EXPECTATION

Saturday, December 18, 2021

UNIVERSAL EXPECTATION

Today is the feast of "OUR LADY of EXPECTATION", which is also known as “OUR LADY of the O” because the Church a has just begun to sing the "O” Antiphons at Vespers. They remind us of the universal longing for the coming of the Savior.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke of her with this title in a prayer: O Mary, Virgin of expectation and Mother of hope, revive the spirit of Advent in your entire Church.

Dominican Br. Thomas Davenport, of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C., explains why his community still marks this Dec. 18 feast: “This feast of Our Lady of the Expectation takes the opportunity to contemplate the great longing and anticipation of Advent, in which ‘all creation is groaning in labor pains,’ through the eyes of her who, above all creatures, longed to see the face of Christ, and whose expectation truly was palpable in every fiber of her body.”

The votive Mass of “Our Lady of Expectation” is theologically enlightening and spiritually enriching for the time of Advent and Christmas. With the entrance antiphon, the Church prays with the prophet for the coming of the Just One from heaven that the earth may be ready to welcome the Saviour: “Send victory like a dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the just. Let the earth open for salvation to spring up” (Is 45:8).

In the opening prayer, the Church offers the prayer to God through Mary’s intercession: “O God who wished that your Word would take the flesh from the womb of the Virgin as announced by the Angel and whom we confess to be the true Mother of God, may we be helped by her intercession.”