Christmas 2024: December 6

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" was initially written in Latin and became one of the most popular hymns in Germany by the 17th century, but it wasn't translated into English until 1851. It was then that it was first put to the familiar tune, "Veni Emmanuel" (O Come Emmanuel). Even though "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is comes much more recently in history to the English language, the poem dates as far back as the 8th or 9th centuries and was a traditional part of Advent celebrations.

In the original Latin, each line began with an OT title for the Messiah, with the exception of "Emmanuel" itself, which is found in both the OT (Isa 7:14) and the NT (Matt 1:23):

O Sapentia (Wisdom)O Adonai (God)O Radix Jesse (Stem or Root of Jesse)O Clavis David (Key of David)O Oriens (Dayspring)O Rex Genitium (King of the Gentiles)O Emmanuel (God with Us)
Now, how's your Latin? You might have noticed that preachers aren't the only ones who like to use acrostics! S-A-R-C-O-R-E, read from the bottom-up (ero cras) means "until I come tomorrow," serving as a reminder of Jesus' words in Revelation 22:12-13, "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

That means, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is truly an "advent" hymn in the most accurate sense since each verse directs us not only to celebrate Christ's first coming but to long also for His second. Traditionally, in the final week before Christmas, one of the poem's seven original antiphons (verses) would be recited each evening leading up to Christmas Eve.