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. (cf. 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.
For 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.

Reading 2 Rom 15:4-9

Brothers and sisters:
Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction,
that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures
we might have hope.
May the God of endurance and encouragement
grant you to think in harmony with one another,
in keeping with Christ Jesus,
that with one accord you may with one voice
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you,
for the glory of God.
For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised
to show God’s truthfulness,
to confirm the promises to the patriarchs,
but so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
As it is written:
Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles
and sing praises to your name.

Alleluia Lk 3:4, 6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 3:1-12

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand.
He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

From: Isaiah 11:1-10

The New Descendant of David

[1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
[2] And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
[3] And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
[4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
[5] Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,
and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
[6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf and the lion and the failing together,
and a little child shall lead them.
[7] The cow and the bear shall feed;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
[8] The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adders den.
[9] They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

The Return of the Exiles

[10] In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples;
him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.

******************************************************************************************
Commentary:

11:1-9. This passage, which is regarded as the third Immanuel oracle, has
two parts to it. The first (vv.1-5) announces that the shoot will spring from the
stump of Jesse (David’s father) at some future date. The second (vv. 6-9) de-
scribes the good things associated with his reign, using imagery to do with
messianic peace: creation will be restored to its state of original justice.

The first part is a formal announcement of the accession of a new king in the
line of David — humble, because he comes from a tree that has been pruned
yet has all the vitality of a tender shoot. It refers to a future king (”there shall
come ...”) and not the reigning monarch. The new king will be endowed with
exceptional qualities that equip him to rule, thanks to the Holy Spirit who will
descend upon him. The divine Spirit is an inner strength, a gift that God gives
to key figures in salvation history to enable them to accomplish a difficult and
dangerous mission — Moses (cf. Num 11:17), the judges (cf. 3:10; 6:34) and
David (1 Sam 16:13). The new descendant of David will rule over the people
not in a heavy-handed way like the kings of the time, but with a charismatic
dynamism that comes from God. Six gifts of the Spirit are mentioned, in pairs
— wisdom and understanding, referring to the skill and prudence that ensure
that he will judge rightly; counsel and fortitude, the characteristics of an astute
strategist like David; knowledge and the fear of the Lord, which have to do with
the religious sphere, for the king must not forget that he is God’s representa-
tive.

The second part describes very beautifully the messianic peace that will flower
with this new “shoot”. It paints a panorama of the harmony that reigned at the
dawn of creation, only to be broken by sin. Even among wild beasts violence
will disappear. No longer will man in his pride desire to be “like God, knowing
good and evil” (Gen 3:5); instead he will be filled with the divine gift of the
“knowledge of the Lord” (v. 9). The “child”, mentioned twice (vv. 6, 8), is not
directly connected with the child-king of the oracle found in 9:6 or with the Im-
manuel (7:14); however, in the mind of the prophet they must have had many
points of contact, given the reference to the child having a leadership role (v.
6).

The image of the “shoot” from the royal line who will bring peace has been in-
terpreted in Christian tradition as finding fulfillment in Jesus Christ. St Thomas
Aquinas read this passage as referring to Christ, who brought about the restor-
ation of mankind; he points out: “First, the birth of Christ the ‘restorer’, is spo-
ken of (v. 1); then, his holiness (vv. 2-9) and his dignity (v. 10) are described”
(”Expositio Super lsaiam”, 11). And Bl. John Paul II comments: “Alluding to
the coming of a mysterious personage, which the New Testament revelation
will identify with Jesus, Isaiah connects his person and mission with a parti-
cular action of the Spirit of God — the Spirit of the Lord.

“These are the words of the prophet: ‘There shall come forth a shoot from the
stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And “the Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him,” the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spi-
rit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And
his delight shall be the fear of the Lord’ (Is 11:1-3). This text is important for
the whole pneumatology of the Old Testament, because it constitutes a kind
of bridge between the ancient biblical concept of ‘spirit’, understood primarily
as a ‘charismatic breath of wind’, and the ‘Spirit’ as a person and as a gift, a
gift for the person. The Messiah of the lineage of David (’from the stump of
Jesse’) is precisely that person upon whom the Spirit of the Lord ‘shall rest.’
It is obvious that in this case one cannot yet speak of a revelation of the Pa-
raclete. However, with this veiled reference to the figure of the future Messiah
there begins, so to speak, the path towards the full revelation of the Holy Spi-
rit in the unity of the Trinitarian mystery, a mystery which will finally be mani-
fested in the New Covenant” (”Dominum Et Vivificantem”, 15).

A Christian reading of these words finds in them a reference to the action of
the Holy Spirit in souls; the “spirits” that repose in the Messiah; are stable
“gifts” through which the Holy Spirit acts. There are six of these gifts, accor-
ding to the Hebrew text (which the New Vulgate and the RSV follow). The
Greek translation of the Septuagint and the Vulgate divide the gift of fear into
two — piety and fear of the Lord. That is why catechesis and theology speak
of there being seven gifts: “The seven ‘gifts’ of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, un-
derstanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. They
belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David (cf. Is 11:1-2). They complete
and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful do-
cile in readily obeying divine inspirations” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”,
1831).

******************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Romans 15:4-9

The Example of Christ (Continuation)

[4] For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that
by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have
hope. [5] May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in
such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, [6] that together
you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[7] Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory
of God. [8] For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show
God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [9]
and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name”.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

4. The excellence of Scripture and its sacred character derive from the fact that
God is its author. This means that there is a consistency and unity running right
through Sacred Scripture, a coherence which integrates both Testaments, Old
and New: the Old Testament contains — prophetically and by way of prefigure-
ment — what happens in the New; and in the New the prophecy and prefigure-
ment of the Old are fulfilled. Since Scripture is the word of God, it is of the high-
est order: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16). This strength and authori-
ty of Scripture is useful not only for instruction in the faith but also for enlivening
our hope and consoling us in every kind of trial, interior and exterior: the exam-
ples which we find in Scripture encourage us to be patient and also spur us on
to fight. By reflecting on those examples we become convinced that if God asks
sacrifice of “his own”, he does so because he has a greater reward in store for
them.

These truths led the Second Vatican Council to teach that in “the sacred books
the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with
them. And such is the force and power of the word of God that it can serve the
Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for
their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life” (”Dei
Verbum”, 21).

8-13. “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you.
Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, be-
hold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us” (Acts 13:46-
47): this is what Paul and Barnabas said to Jews who opposed their preaching.
Christ himself said that he had been sent only to seek out the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, and that was the scope of the Apostles’ first mission (cf. Mt 15:
24; 10:5). However, God’s plans never discriminated in favor of the Jews: they,
once converted, were to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. After the Resur-
rection, Jesus sent his disciples to all nations (cf. Mt 28:18ff). Those who pro-
claimed the Gospel were Jews who had accepted Christ, and they addressed
their preaching first to Jews and then to Gentiles.

This present passage refers to the fulfillment of God’s designs through Christ.
By becoming man God made good his promises to the Jews, keeping faith with
them. By the entry of the Gentiles into the Church his mercy towards all men
is revealed, for his blessings are thereby extended to those who do not belong
to Israel according to the flesh. Our Lord explained this very graphically in the
parable of the two sons (Mt 21:28-32). He first calls the older son (the Gentiles),
who refuses to obey him and afterwards repents and accepts his father’s invita-
tion and goes to work in the vineyard. The younger son (most of the Jewish peo-
ple), on the other hand, seems to be ready to do his father’s bidding but in fact
does not. Many Jews were so hard of heart that not even the repentance and
conversion of the Gentiles moved them to repent.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Matthew 3:1-12

The Preaching of John the Baptist

[1] ln those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
[2] “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [3] For this is he who was
spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the
wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

[4] Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his
waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. [5] Then went out to him Jeru-
salem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan, [6] and they were bap-
tized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

[7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for bap-
tism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? [8] Bear fruit that befits repentance, [9] and do not presume to
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able
from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. [10] Even now the axe is
laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.

[11] “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. [12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1. The expression “in those days” does not specify the exact time of the event
in question. It is sometimes used merely as an opening phrase to mark the be-
ginning of a new episode. In this case, in fact, it can be calculated that some
twenty-five years have elapsed since the Holy Family’s return from Egypt. This
is only an estimate, because the exact date of their return has not been esta-
blished.

On the date of the start of John the Baptist’s preaching, see Luke 3:1-3. The
word “wilderness” has a wider meaning here than we give it today. It does not
refer to a sandy or rocky desert, but rather to arid regions, low in vegetation.

2. “Repent”: Christ’s redeeming work ushers in a new era in the Kingdom of
God. This brings such advance in salvation history, that what is required from
now on is a radical change in man’s behavior towards God. The coming of the
Kingdom means that God has intervened in a special way to save mankind,
but it also implies that we must be open to God’s grace and reform our ways.
Christ’s life on earth compels people to take a stand — either for God or against
him (”He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with
me scatters”: Lk 11:23). Given man’s sinful state after original sin, the newly-
arrived Kingdom requires that all men repent of their past life. To put it another
way, they have to stop going away from God and instead try to get closer to
him. Since sin hinders this conversion, it is impossible to turn back to God
without performing acts of penance. Conversion is not simply a question of ma-
king a good resolution to mend our ways; we have to fulfill that resolution, even
if we find it difficult. Penance grows only where there is humility — and everyone
should admit sincerely that he is a sinner (cf. 1 Jn 1 :8-10). Obedience also
goes hand in hand with penance; everyone ought to obey God and keep his
commandments (cf. 1 Jn 2:3-6).

The literal translation of the Greek is “Repent”. But precisely because the very
essence of conversion consists in doing penance, as we have said, the New
Vulgate has “paenitentiam agite” (”do penance”). This translation conveys the
deeper meaning of the text.

Man’s whole life, in fact, consists in constantly correcting his behavior, and
therefore implies a continual doing of penance. This turning back to God was
preached continually by the prophets in the Old Testament. Now, however, with
the coming of Christ, this penance and turning to God are absolutely essential.
That Christ took on our sins and suffered for us does not excuse us from ma-
king a true conversion; on the contrary, it demands it of us (cf. Col 1:24).

“Kingdom of heaven”: this expression is identical to “Kingdom of God”. The
former is the one most used by St Matthew, and is more in line with the Jewish
turn of phrase. Out of reverence, the Jews avoided pronouncing the name God
and substituted other words for it, as in this case. “Kingdom of God” or “King-
dom of heaven” was a concept used already in the Old Testament and in reli-
gious circles at the time of Christ. But it occurs particularly frequently in Jesus’
preaching.

The phrase “Kingdom of God” can refer in a general way to God’s dominion over
creatures; but normally, as in this text, it refers to God’s sovereign and merciful
involvement in the life of his people. Man’s rebellion and sin broke the order ori-
ginally established in creation. To re-establish it, God’s intervention was needed
again; this consisted in the redeeming work of Christ, Messiah and Son of God.
It was preceded by a series of preliminary stages in salvation history throughout
the Old Testament.

Consequently, the Kingdom of God, announced as imminent by John the Bap-
tist, is brought into being by Jesus. However, this is an entirely spiritual one
and does not have the nationalistic dimension expected by Jesus’ contempora-
ries. He comes to save his people and all mankind from the slavery of sin, from
death and from the devil, thereby opening up the way of salvation.

In the period between the first and second comings of Christ, this Kingdom of
God (or Kingdom of heaven) is, in fact, the Church. The Church makes Christ
(and therefore also God) present among all peoples and calls them to eternal
salvation. The Kingdom of God will be brought to completion only at the end of
this world, that is, when our Lord comes to judge the living and the dead at the
end of time. Then God will reign over the blessed in a perfect way.

In the passage we are considering, John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testa-
ment prophets, preaches the imminence of the Kingdom of God, ushered in by
the coming of the Messiah.

3. By quoting Isaiah 40:3, St Matthew makes it clear that St John the Baptist
has a mission as a prophet. This mission has two purposes — first, to prepare
the people to receive the Kingdom of God; second, to testify before the people
that Jesus is the Messiah who is bringing that Kingdom.

4. The Gospel gives a brief outline of the extremely austere life of St John the
Baptist. His style of life is in line with that of certain Old Testament prophets
and is particularly reminiscent of Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 1:8; 2:8-13ff.). The kind of
food and dress described are of the most rudimentary for the region in question.
The locust was a kind of grasshopper; the wild honey probably refers to sub-
stances excreted by certain local shrubs rather than to bees’ honey. In view of
the imminent coming of the Messiah, John underlines, with his example, the at-
titude of penance preceding great religious festivals (similarly, in its Advent litur-
gy the Church puts John before us as a model and invites us to practise mortifi-
cation and penance). In this way, the point made in the previous verse (concer-
ning John’s view of his mission as precursor of Christ) is fulfilled. A Christian’s
entire life is a preparation for his meeting with Christ. Consequently, mortifica-
tion and penance play a significant part in his life.

6. John’s baptism did not have the power to cleanse the soul from sin as Chris-
tian Baptism does. The latter is a sacrament, a sign, which produces the grace
it signifies. Concerning the value of John’s baptism, see the note on Mt 3:11.

7. St John reproaches the Pharisees and Sadducees for their attitude towards
him. His preaching and baptism are not simply one more purification rite. Ra-
ther, they demand a true interior conversion of the soul, as a necessary predis-
position to reach the grace of faith in Jesus. In the light of this explanation, we
can understand why the prophetic words of St John the Baptist were so hard-
hitting; as it turned out, most of these people did not accept Jesus as the Mes-
siah.

“Pharisees”: these constituted the most important religious group in Jesus’
time. They kept the Law of Moses rigorously and also the oral traditions which
had built up around it. They gave as much importance to these latter, indeed, as
to the Law itself. They strongly opposed the influence of Greek paganism and to-
tally rejected the homage paid to the Roman emperor. Among them there were
men of great spiritual eminence and sincere piety; but there were many others
who exaggerated pharisaical religiosity to the extreme of fanaticism, pride and
hypocrisy. It was this perversion of the true Israelite religion that John the Bap-
tist (and later our Lord) castigated.

“Sadducees”: the Sadducees constituted a smaller religious group than the Pha-
risees, but they included many influential people, most of them from the main
priestly families. They accepted the written Law, but, unlike the Pharisees, they
rejected oral tradition. They also rejected certain important truths, such as the
resurrection of the dead.

On the political front, they went along easily with the terms dictated by the Ro-
mans, and they acquiesced in the introduction of pagan customs into the coun-
try .Their opposition to Christ was even more pronounced than that of the Pha-
risees.

9-10. St John the Baptist’s listeners believe their salvation is assured because
they are descendants of Abraham according to the flesh. But St John “ warns
them that to pass God’s judgment it is not enough to belong to the chosen peo-
ple; they must also yield the good fruit of a holy life. If they fail to do this, they
will be thrown into the fire, that is, into hell, the eternal punishment, because
they did not do penance for their sins. See the note on Mt 25:46.

11. St John the Baptist did not limit himself to preaching penance and repen-
tance; he encouraged people to receive his baptism. This baptism was a way
of interiorly preparing them and helping them to realize that the coming of Christ
was imminent. By his words of encouragement and by their humble recognition
of their sins, they were prepared to receive Christ’s grace through Baptism with
fire and the Holy Spirit. To put it another way, John’s baptism did not produce
justification, whereas Christian Baptism is the sacrament of initiation which for-
gives sin and bestows sanctifying grace. The effectiveness of the sacrament of
Christian Baptism is expressed in Catholic teaching when it says that the sac-
rament gives grace “ex opere operato”. This means that grace is given by virtue
of Christ who acts through the sacrament, and not by virtue of the merits of ei-
ther the minister or the recipient of the sacrament. “When Peter baptizes, it is
Christ who baptizes [...]. When Judas baptizes, it is Christ who baptizes” (St
Augustine, “ln loann. Evang.”, 6).

The word “fire” points in a metaphorical way to the effectiveness of the Holy Spi-
rit’s action in totally wiping out sins. It also shows the life-giving power of grace
in the person baptized.

Foremost among the personal qualities of St John the Baptist is his remarkable
humility; he resolutely rejects the temptation of accepting the dignity of Messiah
which the crowds apparently wanted to bestow on him. Carrying the sandals of
one’s master was a job for the lowest of servants.

12. Verses 10 and 12 refer to judgment by the Messiah. This judgment has two
parts: the first occurs throughout each man’s life and ends in the Particular Judg-
ment immediately after death; the second occurs at the time of the Last Judg-
ment. Christ is the judge in both instances. Let us remember the words of St Pe-
ter in Acts 10:42: “And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify
that he [Jesus] is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”
The judgment will give to each person the reward or punishment merited by his
good or bad actions.

It is worth noting that the word “chaff’ does not refer only to bad deeds; it refers
also to useless ones, for example, lives lacking in service to God and men. God
will judge us, therefore, for our omissions and our lost opportunities.

“Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the
torch of your faith and your love. With your apostolic life, wipe out the trail of filth
and slime left by the unclean sowers of hatred. And set aflame all the ways of
the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 1).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible by Darton, Longman & Todd

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Violet.

First reading	Isaiah 11:1-10 ©

A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse,

a scion thrusts from his roots:

on him the spirit of the Lord rests,

a spirit of wisdom and insight,

a spirit of counsel and power,

a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

(The fear of the Lord is his breath.)

He does not judge by appearances,

he gives no verdict on hearsay,

but judges the wretched with integrity,

and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land.

His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless,

his sentences bring death to the wicked.

Integrity is the loincloth round his waist,

faithfulness the belt about his hips.

The wolf lives with the lamb,

the panther lies down with the kid,

calf and lion feed together,

with a little boy to lead them.

The cow and the bear make friends,

their young lie down together.

The lion eats straw like the ox.

The infant plays over the cobra’s hole;

into the viper’s lair

the young child puts his hand.

They do no hurt, no harm,

on all my holy mountain,

for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters swell the sea.

That day, the root of Jesse

shall stand as a signal to the peoples.

It will be sought out by the nations

and its home will be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 71(72):1-2,7-8,12-13,17 ©