spicebush 2005 taken by sji

 

Dec 17 2005

Gn 49:2, 8-10 Jacob called his sons and said to them: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father.

“You, Judah, shall your brothers praise -- your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you. Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts – who would dare rouse him? The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, While tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homage.”

The Gospel today tells of the 14 generations in the lineage of Jesus, the House of David, the Tree of Jesse. The heritage is within the tribe of Judah. There are generations that have been told of and traced. The ancestors include Abraham. The family links tie the stories of Scripture to family ties and heritage. This is the inheritance of all in the faith. I have been taught that the culture at the time of the writing of this passage held numbers in great symbolic significance. I recall that 14 had an importance of a symbolic meaning of completeness. This makes great sense in the context of the birth of Jesus as becoming the fulfillment and completion of the earlier Scriptural stories. The Messiah is the beginning, the end and the fulfillment of God's loving covenant. My morning prayer this day is for wisdom from the Holy Spirit.

Today is the beginning of the "O" antiphon for Wisdom in our liturgy of the hours. The O antiphons lead up till Christmas now and the hope and anticipation increases with each day closer to Christmas.