Antiphon-4 O Clavis David

Antiphon No. 4 for December 20th

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TEXT OF THE ANTIPHON AND THE MAGNIFICAT IN LATIN AND ENGLISH
First pray the Antiphon; then the Magnificat ; then repeat the Antiphon

LATIN VERSION

ANTIPHON: O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

THE MAGNIFICAT:
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum.
Et exultávit spíritus meus: in Deo salutári meo.
Quia respéxit humilitátem ancíllae suae:
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam me dicent omnes generatiónes.
Quia fécit mihi mágna qui pótens est: et sánctum nómen eius.
Et misericórdia eius in progénies et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fécit poténtiam in bráchio suo: dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui.
Depósuit poténtes de sede: et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis: et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum: recordátus misericórdiae suae.
Sicut locútus est ad patres nostros: Ábraham, et sémini eius in saecula.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto,
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculórum. Amen.

ANTIPHON: O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

OREMUS: Aurem tuam, quaesumus, Domine, precibus nostris accommoda: et mentis nostrae tenebras gratia tuae visitationis illustra. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre, in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
R. Amen.

ENGLISH VERSION

ANTIPHON: O O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel, Thou openest and no one closes, Thou closest and no one opens: come, and lead out of the prison the captive, who sits in darkness and the shadow of death!

THE MAGNIFICAT:
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid:
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is His name.
And His mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him.
He hath shown might in His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy:
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His seed for ever.
Glory be the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forever and ever, Amen.

ANTIPHON: O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel, Thou openest and no one closes, Thou closest and no one opens: come, and lead out of the prison the captive, who sits in darkness and the shadow of death!

V. O Lord hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

LET US PRAY: O Lord, we beseech thee, mercifully incline Thine ears unto our prayers, and lighten the darkness of our minds by the grace of Thy heavenly visitation. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
R. Amen

DOWNLOAD OUR 4th “O” ANTIPHON POSTER ~ O RADIX JESSE

Click on the PDF file link below and download a Letter Size (8.5 x 11 inch) poster on today's O Antiphon: O Radix Jesse

Each day's Antiphon will have its own poster.
The Gregorian Chant notation is at the top of the page, followed by few brief meditative thoughts upon the relevance of the Antiphon for our days.

A wonderful keepsake that you will use year after year.

Our Christmas gift to you!

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AN EXPLANATION AND A MEDITATION

"CLAVIS DAVID" means “Key of David.”  Jesus is the Key to Heaven, Who unlocked Heaven’s gates when He died for our sins. He is “the Holy One and the True One, He that hath the key of David” (Apocalypse 3:7). “And I will lay the Key of the house of David upon His shoulder: and He shall open, and none shall shut: and He shall shut, and none shall open” (Isaias 22:22).

This prophecy of Isaias is repeated in the Book of Apocalypse: "These things saith the Holy One and the True One, He that hath the key of David; He that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth"  (Apocalypse 3:7).

St. Peter, to whom Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, says: “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that ... our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, Whom God hath raised from the dead ... this is the Stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the Head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12). In other words, Jesus is the Key to Heaven.

The Scribes and the Pharisees refused this Holy Key, Jesus. To them Jesus said: “Woe to you Scribes, for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered in, and those that were entering in, you have hindered” (Luke 11:52).“You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins ... If I say the truth, you believe Me not ...  For if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sin” (John 8:23-24, 45).

Jesus left the Key to Heaven with His Church, saying: “I will give to thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatsoever you bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatever you loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven” (Matthew 16:9).

If we want those Keys to open for us the gate of Heaven, we must do what Jesus and His Church tell us to do: “Why do you call Me, 'Lord! Lord!' and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments!” (John 14:15). And speaking of His Church, he says: “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me and Him that sent Me” (Luke 10:16). Let us prove our love by our obedience and thereby get that Key to Heaven.

What are these "Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven" ? There are many ways of looking at the question, we will follow a Scriptural path for our purposes here.

Humility is a key to yet another door of Heaven: “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3). That humility should lead the soul to conversion from sin and lead the soul to the first door of Heaven.

Baptism is the key to the first door of Heaven: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them” (Matthew 28:10). "Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God... unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”  (John 3:3).  "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).

Penance is the key to another door Heaven, for those who have lost the grace of God and have thereby locked themselves out of Heaven. “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). “Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?... When the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul” (Ezechiel 18:23, 27).

The Holy Eucharist is the a key to another of the doors to Heaven: “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. [He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:54-55).

There are many other key sayings of Jesus that show us how to reach and open the doors of Heaven:

"Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13).

“There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie” (Apoclaypse 21:27).

“Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23-24).