So we come, on the 23rd of December, to the last of the Seven Great O Antiphons, which was sung on either side of the Magnificat, O Emmanuel, O God with us. This is the antiphon from which our lovely Advent hymn takes its name. It was also this final antiphon which revealed the secret message embedded subtly into the whole antiphon sequence. In each of these antiphons we have been calling on Him to come to us, to come as Light as Key, as King, as God-with-us. Now, standing on the brink of Christmas Eve, looking back at the illuminated capital letters for each of the seven titles of Christ we would see an answer to our pleas : ERO CRAS the latin words meaning ‘Tomorrow I will come!”
O Emmanuel
O Rex
O Oriens
O Clavis
O Radix
O Adonai
O Sapientia
I have also tried in my final sonnet to look back across the other titles of Christ, but also to look forward, beyond Christmas, to the new birth for humanity and for the whole cosmos, which is promised in the birth of God in our midst.
As always you can listen to the antiphon and sonnet if you wish by pressing the play button or clicking on the poem’s title
These Antiphons and some of their accompanying sonnets have inspired a great piece by Steve Bell, the song O Emmanuel on his new CD Keening for the Dawn (you can hear the song O Emmanuel from this page do give it a listen if you can. You can also hear it on soundcoud Here
I have gathered these and other sonnets into a new book called Sounding the Seasons; Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year published by Canterbury Press. It is also available on Amazon or by order from your local bookshop.
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus nosterO Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.
Malcolm Guite 
Reblogged this on Elizabeth Halls Counselling.
Lovely to see your very unique gifts being shared so widely with us. With seasonal wishes and thanks! And in anticipation of more to come …
Thanks and season’s greetings to you and yours
Thank you, once again, Malcolm, for bringing such extra depth and richness to this time of preparation for Christmas. Through your sonnets the O Antiphons have become an essential aspect of my annual Advent experience. May you and all you love be richly blessed this Christmas.
Many thanks Sally and a merry christmas to you and yours
Wonderful video, Emmanuel http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/god-with-us/
A friend of mine just lent me her copy of Keening for the Dawn. After listening to the song/reading here, I decided our family will be listening to it on our trip to visit the grandparents tomorrow (Christmas Day). Thanks so much for sharing the track…and for writing these lovely, lovely sonnets. I’ve been reading them out to my husband (who is not much interested in poetry), and they seem to be bringing him round 🙂 Plus, they open me to the wonder of this season. God-with-us is stunning. We’re just so used to it we forget. Which is why we need to people like you who make us see again. Thank you!