Day 6: Small, Gentle Steps

The fourth antiphon:

O Key of David and sceptre of israel, what You open, no one can close again;

what You close, no one can open.

O come to lead the captive from prison;

free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O come, Though Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home;

make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

As we light our collective candles from our socially distanced homes, how do we grapple with our responsibility to lead captives from prison? The most logical place to start would be to acknowledge the prisons we know. What prisons have we lived in?

Struggled with depression? How can we advocate for the depressed?

Know the debilitating effects of anxiety? How do we support and encourage calm, peace and serenity in the world?

Know first hand the ravages of substance abuse? How do we support recovery?

So often we believe that our work should be high falutin’ and beyond our personal experience. This is not so!

Tonight, think about your own seasons of darkness, your own times of living in the shadow of death. If you are still there, right now, this minute, who can you reach out to for support? But if you are not, who are you loving, who is where you once were?

Small. Gentle. Next right steps.