The "O" Antiphons - A Christmas Novena

A novena is a nine days' prayer said as a preparation for some particular feast, or in order to obtain some special favor. The model and the first of all novenas was that made in the Cenacle, after the Ascension of our Lord, by the Apostles and Blessed Virgin in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The earliest ecclesiastical novena of which there is record is the Christmas novena, which commemorates the nine months during which the Christ-child was carried in the womb of His Mother. This Novena begins on December 16, ending on Dec. 24.

December 16: "O Shepherd that rules Israel, Thou that leads Joseph like a sheep, come to guide and comfort us."   Follow with:

OUR FATHER who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

HAIL MARY, full of grace!  The Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

GLORY BE to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

December 17: "O Wisdom that comes out of the mouth of the Most High, that reaches from one end to another, and orders all things mightily and sweetly, come to teach us the way of prudence!"  (Our Father, Hail Mary and the Glory Be)

December 18: "O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who did appear unto Moses in the burning bush, and gave him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!"  (Our Father, etc.)

December 19: "O Root of Jesse, which stands for an ensign of the people, at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths, Whom the Gentiles shall seek, come to deliver us, do not tarry."  (Our Father, etc.)

December 20: "O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, that opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens, come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and those that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death."  (Our Father, etc.)

December 21: "O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Son of Justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!"  (Our Father, etc.)

December 22: "O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof!  O Corner-stone, that makes of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!"  (Our Father, etc.)

December 23: "O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!"  (Our Father, etc.)

December 24: "O Thou that sits upon the cherubim, God of hosts, come, show Thy face, and we shall be saved."  (Our Father, etc.)

(A very old prayer book, dated 1925, states in small print under this Novena: "Indulgence of 300 days, each day....Pius VIII, July 9, 1830)