Our Lady had begged God to hasten the coming of the Messiah. God heard her omnipotent prayer, and the Incarnation was anticipated. She was invited to be the Mother of the Word. She accepted, and conceived the Incarnate Word in her womb. In this last week of her gestation, she is waiting with expectation to see the Face of her Son so that she might have a more profound knowledge of His soul and His full personality.
She also awaits the salvation of the world that approaches. She sees the hour coming when the glory of God will cease to be offended by the legacy of original sin. The Devil’s reign that dominated for more than 4,000 years is drawing to its end. She senses that the Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ is near. Only one week is lacking for the birth of the Word that marks the beginning of the end of the reign of the Devil. These considerations filled the heart of Our Lady with hope. That is why
during this period of waiting she is called Our Lady of the Expectation, Our Lady of the Hope, or Our Lady of the O!, since on each of the seven days before Christmas there is an antiphon in the liturgy that the Church attributes to her. She who, in the penetrating phrase of Saint Augustine, “conceived Christ in her mind before conceiving Him in her body,” is the perfect model of holy “great expectations.”
All of these antiphons begin with the exclamation - O! - an expression of longing, a cry of eager anticipation, a sigh of the heart of ancient Israel who for four thousand years awaited the coming (advent) of the Messias. Each antiphon addresses Jesus with a Messianic title which comes from
the Old Testament prophecies of Isaias and Micheas (Micah).
These antiphons, called the "O Antiphons" or the "Greater Antiphons", are:
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