This Sunday is the first Sunday in the Season of Advent. A season in the Church calendar for fasting, expectation, and longing. Advent then, is all about how God's reality can break into our time, creating space where we did not expect to find it.
This year for Advent we are exploring a few of the different names of Jesus as given through the prophecies in the Old Testament. These are referred to in the prayerful practices of the Catholic church as the 'O' Antiphons. Each Antiphon is a title of Jesus which promises to answer a longing held in every human heart.
This week we reflect on the prophetic name of Jesus as "O Root of Jesse". A name that reminds us that Jesus came into the world as part of a grand story of redemption. Jesus entered into the story and lineage of one broken family, in order to restore all human brokenness.
