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Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 4:54 PM
The_Anchoress

Write the Dominicans:

The Baltimore Catechism asks the question, “Why did God make you?” and the answer, while straightforward, is also profound: He made us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this life, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. He is our beginning and our end – we were literally made for Him, and our greatest happiness will be found in loving Him. Of course, He cannot force us to love Him; in fact He gave us a free will so that it is entirely our choice. But then He chose to come to us as an Infant, because it is easy to love infants. May He grant us the grace this Christmas to lay down our hearts and our very lives in adoration before our Newborn King, who holds out a hand to each of us, inviting us to allow Him to satisfy the desires of our hearts.

Read it all.

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

Or, more exactly:

O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof! O Corner-stone, that makest of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!

Pope Benedict: I think the church should also open today a court of the Gentiles:

And finally, taking his cue from his voyage to the Czech Republic, a country where the majority is agnostic or atheist, Joseph Ratzinger launched a new evangelization aimed precisely at those who are far from God. As in the ancient temple of Jerusalem, the pope proposed that the Church open for them “a sort of court of the gentiles,” where the search and the thirst for him can be kept alive.

Related:
Benedict and the Christ Child
Ancient Light

3 Comments

    Tweets that mention Dec 22 – O Rex Gentium » The Anchoress | A First Things Blog -- Topsy.com
    December 22nd, 2009 | 5:01 pm | #1

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Doug Welch, The Anchoress. The Anchoress said: Vespers O Antiphon: O Rex Genium http://tinyurl.com/yfun5t3 [...]

    waltj
    December 22nd, 2009 | 8:41 pm | #2

    I can’t help but be struck by the contrast with Islam, where the command is to “submit” to God. Main force, not love, fear, not adoration, compel the Muslim to bow towards Mecca. Compare the joyful music of Handel to the harsh call to submit to the slavery of Allah, and a fundamental difference in attitude between Christianity and Islam becomes clear. I’ll choose love and joy over fear and domination, thanks.

    Catholic News Headlines Dec. 22, 2009 « Catholic News
    December 22nd, 2009 | 9:03 pm | #3

    [...] Anchoress Dec 22 – O Rex Gentium – O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch [...]