CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 4: O Root of Jesse

19th December: O Root of Jesse

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.

Based on Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10, the title Root of Jesse, refers to the promise of the Lord to raise the Messiah from the line of David (the son of Jesse). It is a promise of deliverance that the Lord gives the people of Israel, and to everyone who believes in the Lord.

The Symbol is that of the shoot flowering... signalling the hope that the Lord offers in times when everything seems dark and dead. Look at the exodus event, the miracles in the desert, the water from the rock, the guidance by day and night - everyone of these was a sign of God's promises being fulfilled. The final fulfillment and the pinnacle of everything was - Incarnation, that which we are preparing to celebrate.

Promises of the Lord will never fail... it may look like it, but things will change. There may be enemies plotting around, there may be situations that go out of control and there may be evil all around me - I will give up and compromise when I think there is no hope. But when here is hope, when I stand on the promises of the Lord, I will never give up!

The prayer today is to reinforce that HOPE...that we may always look forward to the deliverance that the Lord can offer! Note that the readings of the liturgy too relate to the same sense of hope in the Lord who accomplishes marvels for us! Never let anyone rob you of your hope, reminds our Holy Father.

The Reign - Promise of New things!

THE WORD  IN ADVENT

Third Friday in Advent - December 19, 2025

Judges 13: 2, 7, 24-25; Luke 1: 5-25

Today the Word presents to us two promises made... both of which amount to a categorical sense of the Reign! The are promises of the Reign... promises of new things that God is doing for each of us. 

First of all they are promises of dignity - be it Samson's mother or Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, they were subject to disregard and despise in the society for no fault of theirs. Their very dignity was at stake due to what they were not able to accomplish - an undue expectation justified by the society... the promise they receive amounts to clear them from that cloud of objectification, offering them a sense of dignity before the world. This is typically a Reign-promise.

Secondly, it shines out as a promise of fullness - regardless of what the society labelled them or pressurised them with, there would have been a sense of incompleteness within them, an aspiration that they could not realise, although "normally" they should have been able to. A sense of incompetence, or a sense of being less-fortunate would have tormented them. The promise that comes today, offers them the hope of fullness, a sense of accomplishment. We see another characteristic of a Reign-promise - offering the possibility of fullness, a sense of fulfilment. 

Thirdly, the promise grants them a new identity: from a woman not even named in the passage, she is raised to an identity of the mother of Samson, a great Judge over Israel; from a title of being a barren woman, Elizabeth becomes the mother of the one who was called "the greatest of all born of women". A Reign-promise changes one's identity, enhances it and takes it a totally new plane. 

The Reign is a promise in itself - offering each of us, especially those who are in an earnest seeking, a sense of dignity, a sense of fullness, a new identity, the identity of being new creations. Yes, the Reign is in itself a promise to humanity, a promise to each of us - a promise of new things!