O Adonai: Meditation for December 18

"O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free." - Magnificat Antiphon for December 18

I begin this meditation with fear and trembling, because I am forced to critique the translation of the O Antiphon given us in the Liturgy of the Hours, which are the translations I am using for these meditations. The antiphon itself is wonderful, but the translation of this one especially seems to fall sort of conveying the message contained in the Latin. The antiphon in Latin begins with the Lord's title of, "O Adonai," which is the title used in and throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, when being proclaimed, in place of the Divine name given to Moses in the burning bush, YHWH.

It was for fear of the Hebrews become too familiar with the Name, and consequently putting It to profane use, as well as for fear of the other nations taking It and assigning Him to be one of their gods, that the Hebrews eventually forbid the use of God's Name to one day a year, the Day of Atonement, which was only spoken once by the high priest as he offered the sacrifice. While it would still be written in their Scriptures, they had signs placed their so that they would read off the word for, "Lord," instead.

Now, this name of God is normally translated as I AM WHO AM, but an alternative translation, which in a sense probably bears more of the original Hebrew understanding of the Name, is I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE. It is a way of God saying, "You will know Me by My works."

We can see then, how this applies to the deeds spoken of in our O Antiphon. God showed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He gave the Law on Mt. Sinai, we beg Him to free us from the domain of sin and death. Just as we learn the character of a person through their actions in addition to their words, so we can learn Who God is not only through the words He reveals about Himself, but in what He does for us. For example, we know Jesus Christ loves us, not only because He tells us, but ultimately because He dies for our sins upon the Cross.

The same goes for all of God's other attributes. We come to understand His Power through what He does. For example, we see He is able to take on a human nature in the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. In giving the Law, He displays His power over nature through thunder and lightning. We come to know His providence by looking at history.

Now the main ways the Hebrews knew God is through His saving act of the Exodus. Everything He did was for their salvation, albeit at first they may have been limited to this life. However, Christ as the fulfillment and final and definitive Revelation, completes this concept of God as Savior. In the Old Testament, we see God's saving power in regards to the world. He has full dominion over the world. All creation is subject to Him.

At first sight it may appear to us that God's works in the Old Testament were greater than His works of the New Testament. Even Jesus makes reference to this when He heals the paralytic and says, "Which is easier, to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home (Luke 5:23-24)."  But Jesus is not here saying that the bodily healing was greater than the forgiveness of sins; He was speaking to the blindness of the hearts of the Pharisees and Scribes. The forgiveness of sins is part of the greatest works of God! Our Redemption is an even greater work than the Creation of the World!

We know God best through the Person of Jesus Christ, then, not because of the marvelous miracles He preformed, but because of the great Mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption for they allow us to gaze best on God as He is, i.e. as Love. In love, He created us, and in love, He redeemed us. Let us then, contemplate the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ above all, because they will show us most clearly Who God is. Through the life of Christ, from His Incarnation to His Resurrection, we see the face of Love.