Advent: Rorate caeli

 

Here's the old bit of chant, using the words from chapter forty-five and sixty-four of Isaiah, that sometimes accompanied the Sunday evening Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament on Sundays in times past. Let's have a look through the wording. It may help our appreciation of the Season of Advent. Remember that this is a period of watching/vigil for the arrival of Christ, and repentance for our sins. First the refrain Rorate:

"You heavens, send dew from above, you skies, pour down upon us the rain we long for, him, the Just One; may He, the Saviour, spring from the closed womb of earth, and with Him let right order take its being." - Isaias, 45: 8

Then the verses lead out into the devastation that has been wrought on the people and on Jerusalem, as a result of their unfaithfulness to God, of their sins:

"...wilt Thou crush us, Lord, with Thy anger, wilt Thou keep our sins ever in mind? We are Thy people, all of us. A desert, the city Thy chosen servant knew, a desert, the Sion we love; Jerusalem lies forlorn. Given over to the flames, the house that was our sanctuary and our pride, the house in which our fathers praised Thee; all that we loved lies in ruins..." - Isaias, 64: 9-11

Meanwhile, we know what has caused all of this. The warnings about fidelity to the Law and to the God of Israel, the living God, were already ancient by the time of Isaiah and the approaching moment of the destruction of the first Temple, King Solomon's Temple. It was sin and infidelity that snatched the land away from the people. Here the prophet sees a dismal scene, where few call upon the God of Israel anymore:

"We are men defiled; what are all our claims on Thy mercy? No better than the clout a woman casts away; we are like fallen leaves, every one of us, by the wind of our own transgressions whirled along. There is none left that calls on Thy name, that bestirs himself to lay hold of Thee. Thou hidest Thy face from us, broken men caught in the grip of their wrong-doing." - Isaias, 64: 6-7

Men cannot seem to mend the situation. Infidelity is rife. Only God can bring change, only He can redeem his creation, and the prophet can see the plan from afar! The plan that God Himself is to somehow arrive and mend things. As the verses say now, 'Behold, O Lord, the affliction of Thy people and send Him Who is to be sent!'

"Send forth (O Lord) a lamb to be Ruler of the land, from Petra in the desert to the hill where queen Sion reigns." - Isaias, 16: 1

The conclusion is now provided by the final verses: Be of good comfort, My people, for your salvation will arrive all at once; be not sad, not sorrowful, for I will save you, fear you not. For I AM the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer.