Antiphons in the Darkness: O Clavis David

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth: Come and bring the prisoner out of the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death.

The prison of our sins possesses a key. That key clearly cannot be within ourselves otherwise our sins would not imprison us. Our sins shut us away in the darkness of our own selves. We cannot look forth for the beam in our own eyes; we cannot tell right from wrong unless we are shown to be dead inside like the whitewashed sepulchre. The door can only be locked from the outside. Even then, the door is unlocked and opened, and we hear the voice calling us out of darkness, yet still we can sit and wait for the darkness to vanish. The trouble is that God is not where sin is and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we want to be with Him, we have to go out and meet Him. We can speak through the door, but we cannot be with God until we decide to take advantage of the unlocked door. We cannot live in sin and find eternal happiness in that prison. We must renounce all sin, turn and walk out through the door opened for us, to be with the One calling us into His marvellous light.