‘O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the peoples; at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles will seek: Come and deliver us, and tarry not’.

The icon shows us the human ancestry of our Lord, with our Lady and her Son at the summit.

The scripture reference is to Isaiah 11: ‘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, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord’.

May the Spirit of the Lord rest upon us also this day, that we may be blessed with all the gifts of God, and may He be felt very near to us this day.