O Key

  "I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open."  Isaiah spoke these words (22:22) some time around 700 BC, long before Jesus was to be born.  Yet Isaiah saw a distant future, a different time.
  "O Key of David" brings us to the fourth of the O Antiphons.  Jesus came to open prison doors and set the captives free.  He came to open the gates of Heaven and to close the gates of Hell.  The key to each is on his shoulders as the kingdom is on his shoulders, as the beam of the cross is on his shoulders, as life and death, judgment and justice are on his shoulders.  He not only carries the key, he uses the key, he is the key.

  For Reflection:  What things that have been locked away need to be opened?  Who in my life do I need to set free?
  Let us pray.  O Wisdom, O Lord, O Flower of Jesse, O Key of David, you are the key to healing, to freedom, to wholeness.  Open my mind to your wisdom.  Let it take root and flower in me that I might follow in your footsteps by opening doors and setting captives free.
  

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