O RISING DAWN

O RISING DAWN

RADIANCE OF ETERNAL LIGHT

BRILLIANT SUN OF JUSTICE

COME

LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS

THAT HIDES OUR PATH TO LIFE

Today spiritual traditions meet and merge in the Rising Dawn. Medieval and modern Christians sing Winter Solstice songs. Stone Age peoples watch in the shadows of their henges for perfect alignment at dawn of the heavens with the earth. Today we check celestial positions of sun, moon and stars on a smart phone app. Or we meditate on the significance of this time and our personal connection to the universal however it is manifest, and today we feel a turning point. All the antiphons seem to be indicating this, though, the flicker of light in the most profound darkness, and today, the way it rises as the Sun of Justice.

In the shower this morning I found myself singing a verse from an Advent hymn I learned years and years ago. I must have been about 18. “People Look East.” It had been recorded by the Grailville Retreat Center in Loveland, OH.

Stars keep your watch though night is dim,

One more Light your bowl shall brim,

Even beyond the frosty weather,

Bright as sun and moon together.

People look east and sing today,

Love the Star is on the way.

I learned the O Antiphons first in Latin as Gregorian Chant. This one is O Oriens. (Translated as: O Rising, O Appearing, O Originating, O Daybreak, O Dawn, O Sunrise, O East.) This is the dawn of something wholly new, something original, Light beyond light in the mind, the heart, the soul, the spirit, the nations, the world, the universes, the entire cosmos. This is the dawn of a new consciousness, an enlightenment, a new way of being in which Light and Love are identical. It is right here for anyone to see—all we need is to look and receive. Or stay in darkness. It’s up to us.

O Rising Dawn, Come

Dawn at Casa Chiara