Advent is a beautiful season of preparation, one in which we make ready our hearts to receive Jesus on Christmas Day. It is also a season in which we can review the history of salvation and how God gradually prepared the way for the Incarnation.
One tradition that takes a closer look at each of these events is called a Jesse Tree.
The concept comes from a passage in Isaiah, where the prophet says, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots” (11:1). Jesse is the father of King David, and Jesus was born into that same line of David through his foster-father’s (Joseph’s) ancestry.
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Preparing for Christmas? Consider making a Jesse tree
Each day of December we will offer a brief Scripture passage and reflection, following God’s marvelous plan of salvation in the Jesse Tree tradition.
Scripture
God created mankind in his image;in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.
God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. (Genesis 1:27,31)
Reflection
Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air, amply spread around everywhere, question the beauty of the sky, question the serried ranks of the stars, question the sun making the day glorious with its bright beams, question the moon tempering the darkness of the following night with its shining rays, question the animals that move in the waters, that amble about on dry land, that fly in the air; their souls hidden, their bodies evident; the visible bodies needing to be controlled, the invisible souls controlling them; question all these things. They all answer you, ‘Here we are, look ; we’re beautiful.’Their beauty is their confession. Who made these beautiful changeable things, if not one who is beautiful and unchangeable? Finally in man himself, in order to be able to understand and know God, the creator of the universe; in man himself, I repeat, they questioned these two elements, body and soul…[T]hey were looking, you see, for something unchangeable. So in this way they arrived at a knowledge of the God who made things, through the things which he made. (St. Augustine, Sermons)
Prayer
Look with favor, Lord God, on our petitions, and in our trials grant us your compassionate help, that, consoled by the presence of your Son, whose coming we now await, we may be tainted no longer by the corruption of former ways. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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Aleteia’s Advent Calendar Day 1: Lay down your burdens
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And today we celebrate...