Questions for meditation
How does Jesus call us to unite and act as one people, turning aside notions of division?
Where do you hear references to the Magnificat in the Antiphon or its scriptural sources?
Antiphon for December 22 O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.
Then pray the Magnificat:
And Mary said,
My soul overflows with your greatness, O Adonai;
My spirit rejoices in you, O Savior of All the Nations!
For the light of your countenance has dawned over me
despite my humble state.
From now and throughout eternity
even those yet born will call me Blessed
and sing of the great things you have done for me,
exulting in the holiness of your Name.
You pour out your mercy on those who stand in awe of you,
those who revere you,
from ages untold to ages yet to come.
Your strong arm shields the humble
and levels the proud in their isolating conceit.
You have razed the thrones of those who rule by might
while setting the lowly and gentle upon seats of honor.
You have satisfied the hungry with abundant delights
while giving the rich a begging bowl,
sending them away empty-handed.
You have come to the aid of your people unfailingly
fulfilling your promises to our ancestors,
to the children of Hagar, Sarah, and Abraham forever,
standing among us from time immemorial.
Repeat the antiphon
O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.
Prayer references for the antiphon:
Psalm 24:7
Lift up your heads, you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Matthew 27:37
And they put over His head the accusation written against Him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Isaiah 28:16
Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation…”
Ephesians 2:20
…having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone…