O Root of Jesse, Come! Advent Daybook 22
This week we are adoring Jesus by praying the prophetic names of the O Antiphons. (If you missed the introduction to this custom, you can find it at the bottom of this post.)
O RADIX JESSE (ROOT OF JESSE )
Pray: O Root of Jesse, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.
Look: Branch, Isaiah, Chapter 11. Letters cut from the Kabbalah, Meg Hitchcock- Source
Listen: Advent Antiphons: No. 3. O Radix Jesse, Queens' College Choir, Cambridge - Spotify | YouTube
Latin:
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
English:
O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.
Read:
A Reading from Isaiah 10:33 -11 :2a,11:5 -10
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him...
Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. Te cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Te sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.
A Reading from Isaiah 52:13-15
Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were astonished at him— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men— so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.
A Reading from Habakkuk 2:3
For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
Read Malcolm Guite's sonnet and then sing the third verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel as today's prayer.
All of us sprung from one deep-hidden seed,
Rose from a root invisible to all.
We knew the virtues once of every weed,
But, severed from the roots of ritual,
We surf the surface of a wide-screen world
And find no virtue in the virtual.
We shrivel on the edges of a wood
Whose heart we once inhabited in love,
Now we have need of you, forgotten Root
The stock and stem of every living thing
Whom once we worshiped in the sacred grove,
For now is winter, now is withering
Unless we let you root us deep within,
Under the ground of being, graft us in.
Sing:
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Do: Create more space for God throughout your day today (and maybe the remaining days of Advent!) by eliminating an unnecessary daily habit.
Remove some or all internet access, news, music, email, or texts from your morning routine, your drive to work, during a lunch break, from dinner through the bed, or even throughout a whole day. Allow God to fill this new empty space.
Resist the temptation to fill the space with other distractions, and instead use the time to reflect on how this kind of fasting is affecting your openness to God.
