Antiphons in the Darkness: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, Desire of all nations and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

In these times, the darkness makes us forget that God is with us. This does not just mean that He is "on our side": He is with us always even unto the end of the age. Why, then do good folk suffer such darkness? Where is the light of joy of the presence of God? How can God be forgotten? We forget because the world tries to coerce us into forgetting by distracting us from good things and from discrediting things that are good. We can only answer these questions by asking God Himself for mankind cannot provide answers which require a Divine mind. The only thing that can be done is for the Church as a collection of simple, fallible and sinful Christians to exercise her priesthood and work to direct and draw the hearts of men back to their Creator through works of His mercy. The Church cannot answer for God, but it can help them seek answers and support them on this search. The Church bears witness to the reality of God with us and bears Him ever-new in her being. The Church possesses no light of itself, merely God's marvellous light.