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A 15-minute guided meditation for Advent.

The Antiphons are short chants which appear throughout Christian liturgy, and feature in Ambrosian chant and Gregorian chant. The O Antiphons are sung in the final seven days before Christmas. Each short verse – one per day – calls on the Lord by a specific name (O Wisdom, O Adonai, O Key of David..), describes God’s character and attributes, and calls on the Lord to come and bring a gift anew. The modern version of these verses is the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel.

There are many beautiful recordings of the O Antiphons, I always return to this one during Advent.

In this meditation I invite you to connect with your own O Antiphon – by what name do you address the Holy One? Why? And what do you hope the Lord will come and offer now?

By the end of this meditation you will have your own simple O Antiphon, and there is even an invitation to find a tune to hum it to if you wish. “The one who sings prays twice” St Augustine is credited with saying.

So as the birth of Christ draws near again — all blessings, dear ones.

For more Advent Meditations click this link. For Christmas Meditations, click this link.

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

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All music by Pete Hatch. 

Photo by Kent Henderson on Unsplash