Reflection
O Key of David, O Royal power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of Heaven:
Come break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow
of death; lead your captive people into freedom.
The one who has the keys has the power to open doors. This antiphon is about freedom; it is about setting people free by opening the door to a new life free of barriers and divisions. The prayers of Advent see Jesus as that key. He is the one who calls us to walk through the open door of a transformed view of life. His life reminds us that once the lock is changed, the old key will no longer fit. Having been set free from our old beliefs, we can live in freedom of heart and mind. Yet, even if he door is opened, only we can choose to walk through the opened door.
Prayer
May the truth set us free.
Action
Am I ready to open the unlocked door to expanded understandings and new insights? What concrete action will it mean for me?
Suggested Reading
I will place the Key of the House of David on his shoulder.
Isaiah 22:22.
God’s love calls us to move beyond fear.
Pope Francis
Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.
W. Clement Stone
Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge.
Arthur Rimbaud
We receive God’s peace when we ask for it. We keep God’s peace by extending it to others. Those are the keys and there are no others.
Marianne Williamson
In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
To hide the key to your heart is to risk forgetting where you placed it.
Timothy Childers
When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Alexander Graham Bell
God enters by a private door into every individual.
Ralph Waldo Emerson