ERO CRAS

Tomorrow, I Come.

I have posted these before, but the wonderful thing about the liturgical calendar is that it is cyclical and comes back around. I still feel the way I felt when I posted them last year. These are still some of my favorite days, and some of my favorite liturgies and prayers. If you are familiar with this particular cycle, then I imagine you are as excited as I am to walk through them again. If you are not, I am doubly excited to share them with you in this final week before Christmas. Blessings to you all!

---

I have to admit that I am a little bit giddy for today. This past week, we’ve been going through the liturgical prayers for the days leading up to Christmas which are known as the O Antiphons. Each day emphasizes a name and aspect of Christ and is meant to turn our hearts and sharpen our longings toward him - Both for his first coming which we celebrate on Christmas day, and for his eventual return.

There is, however, a secret I’ve been keeping. A second aspect was written into these Antiphonal Prayers-an answer to the repeated plea for Christ to come. It appears in the titles in their Latin translation. They are all pulled from Old Testament promises and prophecies. The titles, in order, are: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, and Emmanuel, and they form a sort of backward acrostic. The first letter of each spells out a reversed ERO CRAS - which translates to “Tomorrow, I come.”

This pattern also appears in the wonderful Christmas Hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Many contemporary versions of the hymns do not have all seven verses, including this one that I love. This one does have E, R, O, and C, at least.

I love this image of standing on Christmas Eve, having spent a week of days calling out for God-with-us to be with us indeed, and then to find the response, the promise, woven into the prayers themselves. I love that the response can only be seen in looking backwards. I love that the promise comes hidden in the names that we know him by.

I have worked this detail into my own prayer-poems that I have been posting. The first line of each half-sonnet is lifted and compiled into an eighth poem, in which this same pattern “Ero Cras” “Tomorrow, I come” can be seen more clearly with each beginning letter. And, indeed, tomorrow is Christmas Day. Every year, he keeps his promise, and we can have faith that he will keep it again. One more night of waiting.

---

I.
Since I’m still waiting for a late promise,
For the return of he whom my heart loves,
I will prepare my heart and home with prayers:
‘Oh come with wisdom in your outstretched hands.
Come plant a garden in my harrowed heart!
O let your word be as a seed that’s sown
And dies to bear a harvest hundredfold!’

II.
All packed and wrapped against this dark and cold,
My frozen bones are seedlike underground.
O Lord of the living and not the dead,
Your servant sleeps and waits for you to call,
So call to me and bid me to arise!
So set my bones about with living flesh
And ask my feet if they would take this dance!

III.
Remind me of the things for which I wait.
The stump is not a stump but a deep root,
An anchor for a sere and sleeping heart.
O Source of Life, come share that life with me!
O Root of Jesse, come that I may grow!
My life begins at your command, so come
Bid this broken reed to live again.

IV.
Cover the flame against the blowing snow,
For you will not put out a failing wick,
But bring the candle through your golden gates–
These opened gates that will not shut again.
O Key of Life, return and turn once more,
So life flows down on me, on me who waits.
My flick’ring heart so longs to join your flame!

V.
One day the spring will bring me all I hope.
One day comes dawn that nevermore shall dim
And song that brings the everlasting dance.
O Dayspring rise and raise me in your light!
Let floods of gold fall down on me like dew!
O Living Warmth, like moths I seek your flame,
And I am blind until I see your face.

VI.
Return my mind to pondering your words
That echo down these prayers and on through time.
O King of All, direct even these lines
To bring to mind Your lasting promises!
O come and reign! O how I wait for you
And long to see my God and King come down
And cause my warring heart to come to peace.

VII.
Eternal call, ‘Tomorrow, I will come.’
How easy in the passing of the year
To forget these words that you have given,
Til dark returns and desperate I become
For God with us to be with us in full.
I weave your words into my songs and prayers–
Keep forgetful heart from its forgetting.

VIII.
Since I’m still waiting for a late promise,
All packed and wrapped against the dark and cold,
Remind me of the things for which I wait.
Cover the flame against the blowing snow–
One day, the spring will bring me all I hope.
Return my mind to pondering your words,
Eternal call: ‘Tomorrow, I will come.’

---

13th Century Great Panagia from Yaroslavl.

Sláinte

*Work on The Abbey of Curiosity will always remain free. I do, however, have a taste for high quality paper and pens with which to draft my poems, so if you have found pleasure in my writings, you can donate to the paper and pen fund through Buy Me A Coffee. Kind words are also appreciated to bolster my delicate poet’s ego. :)