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Commentary of the Gospell
Desire of the Nations
We now enter the second half of Advent. Our joy in anticipation of receiving the Lord intensifies and is captured in a series of O Antiphons that mark the evening prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours. These seven O Antiphons from the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel reflect the various attributes of the Savior who comes. Who does this Immanuel, wisdom-made-flesh, belong to? Being “the desire of all the nations” (cf. Hag 2:7), he belongs to everyone – as is implied by the genealogy of Christ in today’s gospel. In his genealogy, we find people of the chosen race, pagans, men, women, adulterers, murderers, kings, slaves, ordinary people; in short, all saints, all souls, and all sorts. No one is excluded, unless one wants to exclude oneself. And that is the good news. O Come, let us reach out to everyone to share this good news!