Memorial of Saint John Kanty

Today, we celebrate Saint John of Kanty (1390-1473), a priest-theologian at Krakow University whose simplicity and love for the poor earned him canonization and the title Patron of Poland.

Today is also the last day of the “O Antiphons,” ancient prayers addressed to the Lord, just before the Magnificat at Evening Prayer and (since the Second Vatican Council) just before the Gospel of the day under a variety of titles, beginning with “O Wisdom,” and including “O Root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his people.” Today’s antiphon is “O King of all nations and keystone of the Church, come and save man, whom you formed from the dust.” Most of us are familiar with the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, / And ransom captive Israel.” Its verses are the “O Antiphons.”

The readings of this day are all related to themes of salvation and mercy. In the passage from Malachi, God tells us that he is sending his messenger to prepare the way before him. What is John the Baptist’s message for you and me? Whenever I encounter this Malachi passage, I am reminded of an aria in Handel’s Messiah, “But who can endure the day of his coming, / And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire or like the fuller’s lye.” In the Responsorial Psalm, we declare, “All the ways of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.” Neighbors expect the baby to be named Zechariah, but when the father writes that the baby is John, Zechariah’s “mouth was open, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.” We trust God blesses us when we “keep his covenant and his decrees,” as Zechariah does.

Let Us Pray:

O Emmanuel, our king, and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Savior: come and save us, O Lord our God.