Rorate caeli, the great anthem of the Advent season speaks of the hope of redemption and the desire for the coming of the Savior. Rather than speaking only of a state of mind, it conjures images longing as being the desert, falling leaves, and the wind and the coming redemption of the daughter of Zion as the rock and the lamb, ending with the reassurance " I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer."
The Advent season, which opens on Sunday, unites the coming of the child in the incarnation with the second coming of a king with power, one who is both lamb and cornerstone. It calls us back to the moment when the word was made flesh and forward to the end of time. As in Lent, we assess where we have been, but, perhaps especially, the seasonal texts call us to look at where we are going.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come. Why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
