Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. Come, let us adore the King, our Lord, who is to come.

De Isaia Propheta.   

From the Prophet Isaias.

Cap. iii.   

Ecce enim Dominator, Dominus exercituum, auferet a Jerusalem et a Juda validum et fortem, omne robur panis, et omne robor aquæ; fortem, et virum bellatorem, judicem, et prophetam, et ariolum, et senem; principem super quinquaginta, et honorabilem vultu et consiliarium, et sapientem de architectis, et prudentem eloquii mystici. Et dabo pueros principes eorum, et effeminati dominabuntur eis; et irruet populus, vir ad virum, et unusquisque ad proximum suum; tumultuabitur puer contra senem, et ignobilis contra nobilem. Apprehendet enim vir fratrem suum, domesticum patris sui: Vestimentum tibi est, princeps esto noster, ruina autem haec sub manu tua. Respondebit in die illa, dicens: Non sum medicus, et in domo mea non est panis neque vestimentum: nolite constituere me principem populi. Ruit enim Jerusalem, et Judas concidit, quia lingua eorum et adinventiones eorum contra Dominum, ut provocarent oculos majestatis ejus. Agnitio vultus eorum respondit eis; et peccatum suum quasi Sodoma prædicaverunt, nec absconderunt. Væ animæ eorum, quoniam reddita sunt eis mala! Dicite justo quoniam bene, quoniam fructum adinventionum suarum comedet. Vae impio in malum! retributio enim manuum ejus fiet ei.   

For behold the sovereign the Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water. The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the cunning man, and the ancient. The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skillful in eloquent speech. And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them. And the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against his neighbour: the child shall make it tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. For a man shall take hold of his brother, one of the house of his father, saying: Thou hast a garment, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand. In that day he shall answer, saying: I am no healer, and in my house there is no bread, nor clothing: make me not ruler of the people. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Juda is fallen: because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty. The shew of their countenance hath answered them: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woe to their souls, for evils are rendered to them. Say to the just man that it is well, for he shall eat the fruit of his doings. Woe to the wicked unto evil: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Jerusalem is tending to her destruction; therefore she is losing all power and, with the rest, the power of understanding. She no longer knows whither she is going, and she sees not the abyss into which she is plunging. Such are all those men who never give a thought to the Coming of the Sovereign Judge; they are men of whom Moses said in his Canticle: They are a nation without counsel and without wisdom: O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide for their last end! 

The Son of God comes now in the swaddling clothes of a weak Babe, and the humility of a servant, and, to speak with the Prophets as the dew which falls softly drop by drop; but it will not always be so. This earth also, which now is the scene of our sins and our hardheartedness, will perish before the face of the angry Judge; and if we have made it the one object of our love, to what shall we then cling? 

“A sudden death which has happened in your presence,” says St. John Chrysostom, “or an earthquake, or the bare threat of some dire calamity, terrify and prostrate you; what then shall it be when the whole earth shall sink beneath your feet; when you shall see all nature in disorder; when you shall hear the sound of the last trumpet; when the Sovereign Master of the universe shall appear before you in the fulness of his Majesty? Perchance, you have seen criminals dragged in punishment: did they not seem to die twenty times before they reached the place of execution, and before the executioner could lay his hands on them, fear had crushed out life?” 

Oh! the terror of that Last Day! How is it that men can expose themselves to such misery when, to avoid it, they have but to open their hearts to Him who is now coming to them in gentlest love, asking them to give him a place in their souls, and promising to shelter them from the wrath to come if they will be receive him! 

O Jesus, who can withstand thy anger at the Last Day? Now thou art our Brother, our Friend, a Little Child who is to be born for us: we will therefore make covenant with thee; so that, loving thee now in thy first Coming, we may not fear thee in the second. When thou comest in that second one, bid thy Angels approach us, and say to us those thrilling words: It is well!

Hymn of Advent

(Roman breviary, the Office of Matins)

Verbum supernum prodiens

E Patris æterni sinu,

Qui natus orbi subvenis,

Labente cursu temporis.   

O sovereign Word, begotten of the bosom of the eternal Father, yet born in the fleeting course of time, thou bringest succor to the world.

Illumina nunc pectora,

Tuoque amore concrema,

Ut cor caduca deserens

Cœli voluptas impleat.   

Enlighten now our hearts, and inflame them with thy love, that, being detached from earthly things, they may be filled with the joys of heaven.

Ut cum tribunal Judicis

Damnabit igni noxios,

Et vox amica debitum

Vocabit ad cœlum pios.   

That when form his tribunal the Judge shall condemn the wicked to the flames, and lovingly call the good to the heaven they have won,

Non esca flammarum nigros

Volvamur inter turbines;

Vultu Dei sed compotes

Cœli fruamur gaudiis.   

We may not be hurled into the dark pool of fire, but, admitted to the vision of God, may enjoy the bliss of heaven.

Patri, simulque Filio,

Tibique, sancte Spiritus,

Sicut fuit sit jugiter

Sæclum per omne gloria.   

To the Father, and to the Son, and to thee, O Holy Ghost, may there ever be, as there ever hath been, glory for ever and ever.

Prayer From the Mozarabic Missal

(In the Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Illation)

Dignum et justum est, vere et nobis per omnia expedibile, tuam nos elementiam, omnipotens Pater, quibus possumus semper laudibus prædicare; qui bonitate nos ingenuitateque condidisti ac serpentis antiqui fraude decepti, gratuita miseratione a morte velis eripere; qui Filium tuum, quem pro nobis in carne missururs eras ad terras venturum nasciturumque de Virgine longe antea prædixisti, ejus nativitatis adventum prætonantibus sanctis prænuntiasti; ut exspectatus diu qui fuerat repromissus, magnum mundo faceret gaudium in plenitudine temporum præsentatus. Unde petimus et rogamus ut qui plasma tuum, sicut vere pius et misericors, perire non passus es; sed per humilem adventum Filii tui Domini nostri, quod perierat revocasti; quod jam inventum et reparatum ac revocatum est, sic protegas, sic custodias, sic sanes, sic defendas, sic liberes: ut in illo adventu terribili quo iterato illos venturus est judicare, a quibus et pro quibus est judicatus, tales inveniat quod redemit, ut in æternum possideat quod pretio sui sanguinis acquisivit.   

It is meet and just, and available to us in all things, that we always should extol, by all possible praises, thy clemency, O Almighty Father; who didst create us in holiness and nobleness, and, when the fraud of the old serpent had seduced us, didst in pure mercy deliver us from death. 

Thou didst foretell, in past ages, that the Son, whom thou wast to send in the flesh for us, would come on this earth and would be born of a Virgin, and by thy holy prophets didst foretell the advent of his birth; and this to the end that he, who had been promised, having been long expected, might give great joy to the world when he should come in the fullness of time. 

Wherefore we pray and beseech thee, that thou, who didst not suffer thy creature to perish, because thou art truly compassionate and merciful but didst restore what was lost by the humble coming of thy Son, wouldst now so protect, so keep, so heal, so defend, so free, what thou has found and repaired and restored, that in that dread coming whereby thy Son shall come a second time, to judge those by whom and for whom he himself was judged, he may so find the creatures that he has redeemed, that he may eternally possess those whom he purchased with the price of his blood.

The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)