The Church sings this Antiphon in to-day's Lauds:
| ANT. Ecce completa sunt omnia quae dicta sunt per Angelum de Virgine Maria. | ANT. Lo! all things are accomplished that were said by the Angel, of the Virgin Mary. |
| O Emmanuel, Rex et Legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et salvator earum; veni ad salvandum nos, Domine Deus noster. | O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expectation and Saviour of the nations! come and save us, O Lord our God! |
O Emmanuel! King of Peace! thou enterest to-day the city of thy predilection, the city in which
thou hast placed thy Temple, - Jerusalem. A few
years hence, and the same city will give thee thy
Cross and thy Sepulchre: nay, the day will come, on
which thou wilt set up thy Judgment-seat within
sight of her walls. But, to-day, thou enterest the
city of David and Solomon unnoticed and unknown.
It lies on thy road to Bethlehem. Thy Blessed
Mother and Joseph, her Spouse, would not lose the
opportunity of visiting the Temple, there to offer to
the Lord their prayers and adoration. They enter;
and then, for the first time, is accomplished the prophecy of Aggeus, that great shall be the glory of this
last House more than of the first [Agg. ii. 10.] ; for this second
Temple has now standing within it an Ark of the
Covenant more precious than was that which Moses
built; and within this Ark, which is Mary, there is
contained the God, whose presence makes her the
holiest of sanctuaries. The Lawgiver himself is in
this blessed Ark, and not merely, as in that of old,
the tablet of stone on which the Law was graven.
The visit paid, our living Ark descends the steps of
the Temple, and sets out once more for Bethlehem,
where other prophecies are to be fulfilled. We adore
thee, O Emmanuel! in this thy journey, and we
reverence the fidelity wherewith thou fulfillest all
that the prophets have written of thee, for thou
wouldst give to thy people the certainty of thy being
the Messias, by showing them, that all the marks,
whereby he was to be known, are to be found in thee.
And now, the hour is near; all is ready for thy Birth;
come, then, and save us; come, that thou mayest not
only be called our Emmanuel, but our Jesus, that is,
He that saves us.
| O Hierusalem! civitas Dei summi, leva in circuitu oculos tuos; et vide Dominum tuum, quia jam veniet solvere te a vinculis. | O Jerusalem! city of the great God! lift up thine eyes round about, and see thy Lord, for he is coming to loose thee from thy chains. |