This is the first of our series of short messages on each of the Great Advent Antiphons, used on the last seven days of advent.

Advent means the coming of something or someone. The antiphons are almost two thousand years old and are based on the names of Jesus.

What is it we are hoping for in December 2019, after a particularly difficult year for our country and our fellow citizens?

17th December
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence

We are hoping for wisdom which is both mighty and sweet – perhaps this can be translated as wisdom which is effective and kind.

And we are asking to be taught prudence. Prudence is ‘the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason’ ‘characterised by behaving with forethought’.

The meaning of prudence in the Bible is ‘acting from ideas that we know to be true, but doing so with an underlying desire for good’.