19 December 2022
Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
O Root of Jesse, Who stands as a sign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep silence, and to whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to deliver us, and do not delay.
The invocation voiced in today’s antiphon recalls the promise that from the root of Jesse, the father of David, a redeemer would come and restore the people of Israel. For many, this restoration was to be the return of the Davidic Kingdom when Israel was one of the great powers in the Middle East. The restoration called for by Jesus was not one that involved geopolitical power structures but rather a restoration of the intention of God’s initial creation, that humanity would love God and care for that part of creation made in that same God’s image and likeness. This call to conversion was and is universal, not limited to time and place.