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

All the ‘O’ antiphons are Old Testament prefigurations of Christ, and this one is no exception. Here is Isaiah: ‘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 we look to Him in all things, the One who is to come, who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life; and may He bless us this day.