Spiritual Bouquet. "A little Child shall lead them" (Is. XI. 6).
O RADIX JESSE!
December 19th.
"O Root of Jesse! Who standest as the ensign of the people, before Whom Kings shall keep silence and unto Whom the nations shall make their supplication, come and set us free, tarry now no longer."
(Vide Is. xi. 10 and Apoc. xxii. 16).
1st. Prelude. The Tree of Jesse so often seen carved on cathedral porches and painted on windows, and in Missals.
2nd. Prelude. Grace to rally under the Standard of the Tree of Jesse.
Point I. The Root of Jesse.
"There shall come forth a Rod out of the Root of Jesse, and a Flower shall rise up out of his Root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the Spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and of Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and of Godliness; and He shall be filled with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord" (Is. xi. 1-3). St. Jerome says that the Branch is Our Lady and the Flower her Son, Who says of Himself: "I am the Flower of the field and the Lily of the valleys" (Cant. ii. 1); and a responsory dating from the middle ages says: "R. The Root of Jesse gave out a Branch: and the Branch a Flower; and on the Flower resteth the Holy Spirit. V. The Virgin Mother of God is the Branch, her Son is the Flower, and on the Flower resteth the Holy Spirit."
So once again, if we would find the Flower we must first find the Branch which bears it. The Flower is still in bud but presently it will open, and its beauty and fragrance will fill the whole earth and attract all men to it: "What manner of one is thy Beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women?" "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands" (Cant. v. 9, 10). I can understand that thy beautiful Lily is white, for I know that such is His purity that even the heavens are not pure in His sight, but why is His apparel red? (Is. lxiii. 2). Because He is "clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood: and His name is called: The Word of God" (Apoc. xix. 13). Even now, before His delicate petals are unfolded, they are marked with the Cross.