O Dayspring
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St. Mary's Monastery
Dec 20, 2025, 5:54:42 PM12/20/25
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December 21
I realize that most modern renderings have "O Rising Dawn", but indulge me in this one. As a lover of Gerard Manley Hopkins, I vastly prefer the much more poetic "O Dayspring" And besides, who said translation must be pedestrian to be relevant? (It often seems someone must have....) "Dayspring" also carries the hopeful connotation of Spring-to-come, of Resurrection, a powerful thought on the first day of winter!
"O Dayspring, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice; come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death."
I wonder if the appearance of today's sun image landed on the winter solstice accidentally. Given the ancients' fascination with such things, one would suspect it was deliberate choice. Just as the natural sun ebbs to its weakest point, the Sun of Justice Who shall never diminish, is proclaimed. The images today, while reflected in both Old and New Testaments are more from nature than those of the days preceding.
Jesus calls Himself the Light and the Life. Surely the sun gives both, and so, here, does the Sun of Justice. We could not live without the sun; our planet would be a barren, frozen wasteland without it. So would our barren souls wither without the Sun of Justice.
The image of dawn, of the dayspring, holds a further message: the sun at noon is at its peak of light and heat, but the gentler sun of both rising and setting is not only softer and less extreme, but floods the sky and the earth with its lovelier color and majesty. This is yet another repetition of the theme of gentleness/strength.
Malachi’s mention of the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:1-2) contrasts two experiences of the Messianic power "glowing like a furnace." For the wicked, it will burn them like chaff, but for those who fear God's name, "the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing." Jesus' power and majesty and strength are truly a balm to us.
Naturally, to Christian (and especially Benedictine!) ears, the most obvious connections here will be those of the Benedictus, the Canticle of Zachary in Luke 1:78-79, the "Oriens ex alto", “the dayspring from on high”, which shall burst forth and shine on all those "who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." The message today is the end of darkness, the end of shadow, the end of death. The Messiah, the Sun of Justice has dispelled them all.
The Radiance of the Light eternal is found in Hebrews 1:3 as an attribute of Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. My favorite translation, the New English Bible, renders it thus: "...the Son Who is the effulgence of God's splendor and the stamp of God's being and sustains the universe by His word of power." The Son is, as we say in the Creed, truly "Light from Light." He would not have to do anything to end the world, He would have to STOP doing something, stop willing it and us, stop sustaining it. Creation is the daily and ever present act of the Son, something ongoing in His will maintaining all that is.
Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death are not just a group of outsiders. There are many such corners of gloom in our own souls, to which we frequently retire for a “holiday” from the struggles of grace. Today we invite the Sun to illuminate even those recesses, to leave us no place to hide from Him in the damp and chill of selfishness.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
December 21
I realize that most modern renderings have "O Rising Dawn", but indulge me in this one. As a lover of Gerard Manley Hopkins, I vastly prefer the much more poetic "O Dayspring" And besides, who said translation must be pedestrian to be relevant? (It often seems someone must have....) "Dayspring" also carries the hopeful connotation of Spring-to-come, of Resurrection, a powerful thought on the first day of winter!
"O Dayspring, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice; come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death."
I wonder if the appearance of today's sun image landed on the winter solstice accidentally. Given the ancients' fascination with such things, one would suspect it was deliberate choice. Just as the natural sun ebbs to its weakest point, the Sun of Justice Who shall never diminish, is proclaimed. The images today, while reflected in both Old and New Testaments are more from nature than those of the days preceding.
Jesus calls Himself the Light and the Life. Surely the sun gives both, and so, here, does the Sun of Justice. We could not live without the sun; our planet would be a barren, frozen wasteland without it. So would our barren souls wither without the Sun of Justice.
The image of dawn, of the dayspring, holds a further message: the sun at noon is at its peak of light and heat, but the gentler sun of both rising and setting is not only softer and less extreme, but floods the sky and the earth with its lovelier color and majesty. This is yet another repetition of the theme of gentleness/strength.
Malachi’s mention of the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:1-2) contrasts two experiences of the Messianic power "glowing like a furnace." For the wicked, it will burn them like chaff, but for those who fear God's name, "the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing." Jesus' power and majesty and strength are truly a balm to us.
Naturally, to Christian (and especially Benedictine!) ears, the most obvious connections here will be those of the Benedictus, the Canticle of Zachary in Luke 1:78-79, the "Oriens ex alto", “the dayspring from on high”, which shall burst forth and shine on all those "who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." The message today is the end of darkness, the end of shadow, the end of death. The Messiah, the Sun of Justice has dispelled them all.
The Radiance of the Light eternal is found in Hebrews 1:3 as an attribute of Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. My favorite translation, the New English Bible, renders it thus: "...the Son Who is the effulgence of God's splendor and the stamp of God's being and sustains the universe by His word of power." The Son is, as we say in the Creed, truly "Light from Light." He would not have to do anything to end the world, He would have to STOP doing something, stop willing it and us, stop sustaining it. Creation is the daily and ever present act of the Son, something ongoing in His will maintaining all that is.
Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death are not just a group of outsiders. There are many such corners of gloom in our own souls, to which we frequently retire for a “holiday” from the struggles of grace. Today we invite the Sun to illuminate even those recesses, to leave us no place to hide from Him in the damp and chill of selfishness.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
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