Days 30/31: "O Wisdom, Come — The First Step in the Journey to Christmas" (Days 30/31)
"Day One of the Christmas Novena — Reflecting on 'O Sapientia' and the Incarnation of Divine Wisdom" (The Journey Continues)
The Recitation of the O Antiphons is a deeply liturgical practice used during Advent to express the Church’s longing for the coming of Christ. Each antiphon begins with a drawn-out “O,” symbolizing a sigh of yearning and anticipation—reflecting the dramatic, expectant spirit of the liturgy.
We invite you to pray the O Antiphons from December 17 to 23, a sacred tradition that invites us to reflect on the seven titles of Christ as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
For further reflection, you can access a podcast from last year’s devotional series, which premiered tonight:
DECEMBER 17, 2025 - Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary
O WISDOM
“O Come, O Wisdom of Our God, Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge.”
Refrain:
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel.”
Here is the lesson from last year’s post led by Fr. Elias Mary Mills, FI:
TODAY WE WILL PRAY THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES after the O ANTIPHONS. Try inviting someone in your life to join you to pray. Encourage children to pray the Mystery of the Nativity before bed every night leading up to Christmas Day.
O, Lord, + open my lips.
— And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Glory Be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit
— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
Antiphon:
The Lord is close at hand; come, let us worship him.
In today’s reading, in the Gospel of Matthew 1-25, we find that in the Genealogy of Jesus we don’t encounter “perfection” — but love of God taking the path of long suffering and long development over time — as we journey through the generations leading to Christ’s birth.
For God refuses to give up on us, generation, after generation.
And it is Mary’s appearance at the end of this genealogy which makes her through the power of the Holy Spirit the means by which this golden doorway — Christ the King, God’s love becoming flesh, and brought about by her “Magnificat” the possibility of God’s presence in the world, making room for Him in her own body, deep within her heart. Thus God enters into human history, not in a rushed or quickened way, but through faithfulness across generations and generations — across time.
In the “Yes” of Our Lady, she allows us to be part of this great love story — bringing Christ into the world at Christmas.
Today’s novena focus as part of the 40-days and 40-nights journey, invites us to explore how to approach this Advent set of days from December 17 to 23 and invites us to find ways to tell our own stories — and it shows us the power of how “love” might emerge by making our own “yes” to others, slowly growing the love of Christ in us, by our actions, our patience, our service, and allowing love to arrive — like God intended — not all at once but over time.
And in that waiting, God is with us, always, waiting to be born and our prayer of the Magnificat can start to reflect our love for Him like Our Lady’s love.
For today’s reading, revisit this first Chapter of Matthew here, reading it aloud from the Douay-Rheims edition:
Chapter 1:
The genealogy of Christ: he is conceived and born of a virgin.
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren.
3 And Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares begot Esron. And Esron begot Aram.
4 And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon.
5 And Salmon begot Booz of Rahab. And Booz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse.
6 And Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias.
7 And Solomon begot Roboam. And Roboam begot Abia. And Abia begot Asa.
8 And Asa begot Josaphat. And Josaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ozias.
9 And Ozias begot Joatham. And Joatham begot Achaz. And Achaz begot Ezechias.
10 And Ezechias begot Manasses. And Manasses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias.
11 And Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon.
12 And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. And Salathiel begot Zorobabel.
13 And Zorobabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliacim. And Eliacim begot Azor.
14 And Azor begot Sadoc. And Sadoc begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud.
15 And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob.
16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, [1] of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations, from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations. And from David to the transmigration of Babylon, are fourteen generations: and from the transmigration of Babylon to Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost.
19 Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying:
23 Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife.
25 And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son: [2] and he called his name JESUS.
O SAPIENTIA & THE DIVINE OFFICE FOR DECEMBER 17, 2025
“O Sapientia, O Wisdom of Our God, Most High,
who guides creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge.”You are the Word through whom all things were made —
the Wisdom that descended into the womb of Mary,
that in her “Yes” might become flesh,
and in time, bring salvation to the world.
As St. Leo reminds us, the Incarnation was not a mere appearance — but the true union of divine and human nature, so that the Creator might be born in time,
and the battle against sin and death might be won not by force, but by faithfulness across generations.
In this Advent journey, we do not wait for a distant God, but for the Wisdom who enters our lives — in the quiet of our homes, in the choices we make, in the “yes” we offer to love, and in the hope that, like Mary, we may be instruments of His coming.
O Wisdom, come.
Teach us to walk in faith, to love as He loved,
and to wait — not in passivity, but in hope —
for the Christ who is already born,
and who is always being born in us.
SECOND READING FOR LITURGY OF THE HOURS
From a letter by Saint Leo the Great, pope (Ep. 31, 2–3: PL 54, 791–793)
“The Mystery of Our Reconciliation with God”
To speak of our Lord, the son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as true and perfect man is of no value to us if we do not believe that he is descended from the line of ancestors set out in the Gospel. Matthew’s gospel begins by setting out the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, and then traces his human descent by bringing his ancestral line down to his mother’s husband, Joseph. On the other hand, Luke traces his parentage backward step by step to the actual father of mankind, to show that both the first and the last Adam share the same nature.
No doubt the Son of God in his omnipotence could have taught and sanctified men by appearing to them in a semblance of human form as he did to the patriarchs and prophets, when for instance he engaged in a wrestling contest or entered into conversation with them, or when he accepted their hospitality and even ate the food they set before him. But these appearances were only types, signs that mysteriously foretold the coming of one who would take a true human nature from the stock of the patriarchs who had gone before him. No mere figure, then, fulfilled the mystery of our reconciliation with God, ordained from all eternity. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Virgin nor had the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that within her spotless womb Wisdom might build itself a house and the Word become flesh. The divine nature and the nature of a servant were to be united in one person so that the Creator of time might be born in time, and he through whom all things were made might be brought forth in their midst.
For unless the new man, by being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, had taken on himself the nature of our first parents, unless he had stooped to be one in substance with his mother while sharing the Father’s substance and, being alone free from sin, united our nature to his, the whole human race would still be held captive under the dominion of Satan. The Conqueror’s victory would have profited us nothing if the battle had been fought outside our human condition. But through this wonderful blending the mystery of new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth we too might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence the evangelist declares the faithful to have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
RESPONSORY
See Isaiah 11:10; Luke 1:32
Behold the root of Jesse will come down to save the people,
the nations will entreat him;
— and his name will be held in reverence.
The Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob for ever.
— And his name will be held in reverence.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Let us pray.
Father,
creator and redeemer of mankind,
you decreed, and your Word became man,
born of the Virgin Mary.
May we come to share the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share our human nature,
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
MARIAN HYMN FOR TOMORROW’S ROSARY & EVENING PRAYER WITH O ANTIPHONS
