Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

Reading 1 IS 11:1-10

On that day,
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
A Spirit of counsel and of strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide,
But he shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Justice shall be the band around his waist,
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.

On that day,
The root of Jesse,
set up as a signal for the nations,
The Gentiles shall seek out,
for his dwelling shall be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

R. (see 7)  Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment. 
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
He shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save. 
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

 

 

Alleluia 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold, our Lord shall come with power;
he will enlighten the eyes of his servants.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 10:21-24

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike. 
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

– – –

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Lord, Deepen Our Faith

In what way is Jesus contrasting revealing truths to the childlike and hiding them from the wise and the learned? The truth of the Gospel, which we proclaim during Advent, is that Jesus Christ united Himself to mankind as our Redeemer. We may not fully understand the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of our Lord, but we believe the Gospel with a child’s faith that God would not deceive us. This does not mean that we will never question the beliefs of our faith, but our questioning is to understand not to undermine. The wise and the learned that Jesus is referring to, question out of skepticism and unbelief, the Cross to them is absurd (see I Cor. 1:18-25). They think in their worldly wisdom that the Cross and Resurrection are just unsupportable myths that the simple-minded believe in, because they are ignorant and do not know any better. Jesus is not disparaging being wise or learned, there are many wise men who do have faith in Jesus Christ – St. Thomas Aquinas to name one of many examples. Yet as St. Thomas once declared, he learned more from prayer and contemplation than he ever did from men and books. During Advent, let us renew our confidence and trust in God’s love for us, and with child-like faith believe that God is working for our good – even if the circumstances seem to indicate otherwise. As St. Paul tells us “We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes” (Rm. 8:28).

In the second part of this passage, Jesus states that the disciples have seen and heard what many Old Testament kings and prophets wished they had seen and heard but did not. The disciples had met the Messiah in person, the greatest gift in the history of mankind. Rather than debating which of them was the greatest, which they did on several occasions, they should be thankful for the great blessing God had bestowed on them. This is also true for us. Even though we have not seen Christ in person, Christ says we are blessed because we believe even though we have not seen (see Jn. 20:29). This blessing should remind us of how thankful we should be to God for revealing to us the truth about His Son, and to share this love and revelation with others. This Advent let us ask God to deepen our faith in His love, and in turn, to be a light to other people of God’s kingdom here on earth, in the person of Jesus Christ.

Contact the author

Emily Jaminet is a Catholic author, speaker, radio personality, wife, and mother of seven children. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mental health and human services from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.  She is the co-founder of www.inspirethefaith.com and the Executive Director of The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network www.WelcomeHisHeart.com. She has co-authored several Catholic books and her next one, Secrets of the Sacred Heart: Claiming Jesus’ Twelve Promises in Your Life, comes out in Oct. 2020. Emily serves on the board of the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference, contributes to Relevant Radio and Catholic Mom.com.

Feature Image Credit: Vanesa Guerrero, rpm, https://www.cathopic.com/photo/2177-jesus-con-brazos-abiertos