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O Rex Gentium
During Advent, members of the A Nun’s Life community will be posting reflections on the Jesse Tree and the O Antiphons.
Day 22 :: O Rex Gentium written by Meredith Gould. Meredith is the author of eight books, including The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions (Doubleday) and Why Is There a Menorah on the Altar? (Morehouse). She’s founding moderator of the weekly Twitter-based chat about church social media (#chsocm) and blogs about culture and faith at More Meredith Gould.
O King of nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.
While most people usually focus on the “O King of nations” part of this O Antiphon, I remain fixated on the last two lines. More precisely, I keep zooming in on the word “clay.” Being fashioned from clay by the Creator is a metaphor that has always worked for me.
Add water to clay and it becomes mud. Add even more water and mud turns into a slurry. Slurry can be washed away, but not without leaving a messy trail. Let mud dry out and it can be crumbled into dust. Dust is always at risk for blowing away before being reconstituted as clay.
On a brighter note, clay is very pliable. How well I know this.
During my years as a visual artist, I’d switch to pottery whenever I needed a break from drawing. I loved the tactile messiness of working with clay as it swirled into form on the pottery wheel. When the form wobbled off-kilter, I happily pounded it back down into a lump and started over. Happy about the pounding. Happy about the starting over.
We humans seem quite adept at pounding ourselves and one another into lumps, let’s not blame God for this. Instead, let’s give thanks for every opportunity to be formed, yet again, by our loving Savior of clay. God knows, I do.
* * Want to revisit the other symbols of Advent? Click here on Jesse Tree. * *
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We are made to be pliable — I love your reflection, Meredith! Sometimes in the rush of schedules and deadlines, it can be easy to forget that we’re made like this. I associate pliability with creativity, as the two seem to go hand in hand in my life.