Advent Reflection: To You Have I Lifted Up My Soul
This year for our Advent reflections, we will focus on the entrance antiphons for each of the Sundays of Advent. These antiphons belong to the Church’s liturgical heritage and are proper to the Mass to which they belong, setting the tone of the liturgical celebration. Even if your parish does not choose to sing them, they can be fruitfully meditated on before or after the Mass.
Entrance Antiphon for the First Sunday of Advent
To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.
V: O Lord make me know your ways, and teach me your paths.
As we enter into the liturgical season of Advent, we enter into a season of waiting. There is a hopeful, expectant, even joyful character to our waiting, but it is still waiting. What we long for isn’t here yet. We are still waiting for a redeemer.
Of course, Jesus has already come, was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, preached the good news of salvation, suffered and died for our sins, and rose again from the dead, ascending to heaven to prepare a place for us. He has redeemed us and has poured out his grace upon us.
But in another sense, we still wait for Christ to be born in our hearts, to be incarnate there more fully, more completely. We still wait for the fulness of redemption when temptations will no longer sway us, misunderstandings divide us, or sufferings afflict us.
And so, the cry of the psalmist speaks from our own hearts as well: “To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame.” This antiphon is taken from Psalm 25 (or Psalm 24, depending on your translation). St. Augustine comments on this psalm:
To you, Lord, have I lifted up my soul, with spiritual desire, because formerly my soul was trampled on the ground by carnal desires. O my God, I trust in you, let me not be put to shame. O my God, I have been brought to this point of bodily weakness because I trusted in myself. Having abandoned God, I aspired to be Godlike, only to find myself afraid of being killed by the most insignificant little animal. A laughing-stock by reason of my pride, I was totally ashamed. But now I trust in you, so let me be shamed no longer.
Why, even after redemption, does God allow us to struggle with our sinful condition? Perhaps it is so that we might learn to exercise this spiritual desire. It is only when we are confronted by the depths of our own sinfulness and weakness that we are able to let go of the prideful assertion of our own wills that we can do this ourselves. We have to realize that we need a redeemer before we allow ourselves to be redeemed. And so, as we experience ‘enemies’ within and without, the entrance antiphon teaches us to turn toward Heaven, praying that God will not allow us to be put to shame.
And so we can pray: Lord, I am surrounded by my sins and failures. To you I lift up my soul, O my God. I have trusted in you, save me from my sinfulness: let me not be put to shame. Come, Lord Jesus, be born in my heart. Make me know your ways, and teach me your paths. Work your redemption in me and fill me with your grace.
