The O Antiphons - O Radix Jesse

Oak carving of Tree of Jesse from St Andrews Castle - Wiki image

December 19th - O Radix Jesse

The lineage of Jesus' human ancestry links him to the prophecies of Isaiah 11:1, and of Micah 5:1, that from David's line the future Messiah would come and be born in David's city of Bethlehem. For those of us who see the divisions and torments of that city today, the political mess that surrounds the places associated with Jesus and the abuse of his teaching by powerful figures, including religious people who use Jesus' for their own ends and agendas, the deep ancestry of Christ might give us pause for thought.

Here is no ordinarily powerful character, the Messiah does not come with armies, nor live in the places and rich haunts of humankind, the only excesses of his mission are those of unconditional love and the offer of forgiveness and communion with God. We are grafted onto his ancestral line by Baptism and Confirmation, in truth we are the adopted family of Christ, but and here is something we hold on to, he shares our humanity too, all our own ancestors link us to him, whose roots are beyond Jesse into the symbol of Adam and Eve, those first earthlings, created by God from star dust, and whose genetic make up is our very own. It is those in the dust who will inherit the Kingdom!

O Radix Jesse:

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare

O Flower of Jesse's stem, 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.

O Root of Jesse.

Deep in ancient times our own first mothers came,
Their menfolk caring for the growing child.
Their names are not known,
Except in gasps of bible words
Names spinning by in the rush of years,
Jesse, David, Elizabeth, Mary, from the Hebrew,
Woden, Freya, Frith, from Norse land tales.
No matter whom we hear from,
They are the flowers blown
In the wind of God's kindness,
Never forgotten, ancestors all,
Bound and bonded in God's dusted kinship!

O root of Jesse,
Messiah Christ,
Come now into our troubled world,
Teach us,
That we all can know-
Our lives as healthy rooted stock of God.
Grafted on to you,
Christ our beginning, Christ our end!