O Clavis David: opening the gates of Eternity

 

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis

O Key of David,
opening the gates of God's eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!

We often speak of having a "God-sized hole" in our hearts, a variation of Augustine's "our hearts our restless until they rest in you." I have been struck this year, even before the O Antiphons began, with the notion that Jesus' is THE key that fits this hole (which means the whole does indeed have a definite shape, only to be fitted by a particular key). But rather than the key turning to open the gates that reveal the mysteries of God, the key is the still point of Creation, and it is we who must turn around him, that is, we must convert, con-verte to turn around (Lat.). Our whole life must make Christ the center, everything must be fitted to him, or the gates to God's eternal Kingdom will not open.

O gates lift up your heads. Grow higher ancient doors. That the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts

There's also room here to meditate on the idea that the door itself, the heart, is warped, jambed so it simply cannot open, and that this is where the necesity of Mary as mediatrix, whose heart is the gate by which the Glory of God stepped into the world in his incarnation is the only portal by which we may in turn step into Heaven. We must have a heart transplant and allow Mary's Immaculate Heart to replace our own, for it is the only door in which the Key of Christ will still fit snugly. 

Loving Mother of the Redeemer, Gate of Heaven ...