Almost There

Tomorrow there will be a first Vespers with some other antiphones but today we can still delight in the last of the O antiphons, O Emmanuel, this time again sung by the chaps at the Dominican student house in Oxford. Contrary to popular opinion -at least around here- Christmas does most definately not happen tomorrow on the 24th. There is a first Vespers on that day which begins the solemn celebration of the great feast on the 25th, the actual day on which the birth of Our Lord is celebrated.

We go on prepairing for Christmas by prayer;

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
 In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight,
in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[mention your request here]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be.