O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse)

O come, O Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell they people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

The passage from scripture i sat with when praying with this Antiphon was John 15: 1-5 where Christ tells us that he is the vine, the Father is the vine grower, and we are the branches.  Just as branches cannot bear fruit without being connected to the vine neither can we grow and bear fruit without being intimately connected to Christ.  The spiritual life is all about relationship and Catholicism is all about right relationship.

How is the spiritual life about relationship?  Well, look at all religions in the world.  They are seeking someone to answer the unanswerable questions.  Why do we exist?  What is the meaning of life?  And so we seek someone transcendent from ourselves for the answer through a variety of means.  The ancient world offered blood sacrifices and incense to multiple Gods, Easter religions sought a transcendent reality through deep meditative prayer, the Jews found God who saved them from their oppressors, and the list goes on.  As each of these religions enter any type of spiritual life it is based on the foundation of building a relationship with their god(s).  The same is true in Catholicism where we are continually building a relationship with Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, our one triune God.  We want to be friends with Jesus.

Now, as Catholics we are focused on a right relationship.  This right relationship is build on the foundations of our sacred liturgies.   Not just the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass but also within the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) and the other Sacraments as well.  When we take time to really pray as the Church tells us to pray we are forming that intimate friendship with Jesus Christ in the right way.  We want to form this friendship on a foundation of respect, dignity, love, and this is done through the prescribed liturgies in the Church.

So how else do we stay in an intimate friendship with Jesus Christ?  Frequent reception of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance.  When we receive Christ in the Eucharist we are literally transforming our bodies into a new creation in Christ.  We strip away our old self and conform more closely to the heart of our Lord.  When we receive the Sacrament of Penance we are again striping away out old self, dying to ourself, and becoming more like Christ.  We turn away from the Satan and toward God every time we receive each of these beautiful gifts from Christ.  Also, pray a daily Holy Hour!  Christ asked his apostles to sit for one hour in prayer when we he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, which his apostles failed at, and Christ was angry and said "you couldn't sit with me for one hour?"  Christ just wants you to pray with him.  Can't commit a whole hour?  Then give Christ all that you are able...he will understand.  One other way you can grow in this intimate friendship is by performing acts of charity.  tart with the corporal works of mercy and go from there.  When you want to grow in friendship with your best friend you do things together!  Go out and offer service to people with Christ in your heart.

Jesus tells us in this same Gospel passage that the Father, as the vine grower, will prune the branches. We have already been pruned by listening to the Word, who is Christ.  What else can be pruned from our lives?

O Root of Jesse, who stood as a sign for the people, before you kings shall remain silent, and to you the Gentiles shall make supplication: come to deliver us, and delay not. Amen.