02 - 2nd Week of Advent

Readings and Gospel

Lectionary for this day - This has all the readings and Gospel

Isaiah 11:1-10 - The Ideal Davidic King - mentions the Sanctifying Gifts of the Holy Spirit; describes how things were in the days of Creation before the fall and in the days when the Lord comes again

(Letter of St Paul to the) Romans 15:4-9 - Patience and Self-Denial, God’s Fidelity and Mercy

Matthew 3:1-12 - The Preaching of John the Baptist

Sanctifying Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 11:1-10 mentions "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."

There is a separate RCIA talk that discusses these gifts. Click here for more information about these gifts.

Who / What / Where is...?

Isaiah

• His name means "God is Salvation".

• Isaiah is one of the prophets in the Old Testament -- around 742 BC to 701 BC, and it may have continued even longer, until 687 BC. He appeared at a critical moment in Israel’s history. 

• More information here.

Jesse

• Father of David. (David is the second king of the Israelites.)

Root of Jesse

• This term pertains to Jesus Christ.

Gentiles

• People who are not Jews

Romans

• St Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome. This is today's Italy and surrounding areas.

• More information here.

Matthew

• He was a tax collector. He was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

  • • 12 Apostles - the first 12 people that Jesus called to follow Him.

John the Baptist

• He is a cousin of Jesus. 

• His mother is Elizabeth, whom Mary visited. Both were pregnant with their respective sons. (Luke 1:39-45)

• He encouraged the Jews to repent. This was marked by the baptism in the Jordan River.  He baptized many Jews including Jesus. (Matthew 3:13-17)

Pharisees

• "Pharisee" is derived from Ancient Greek Pharisaios (Φαρισαῖος), from Aramaic Pərīšā (פְּרִישָׁא), plural Pərīšayyā (פְּרִישַׁיָּא), meaning "set apart, separated". (Source: Wikipedia)

• The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism. (Source: Wikipedia)

• Pharisees are marked by devotion to the law, written and oral, and the Scribes, experts in the law, belonged predominantly to this group.

Sadducees

• Sadducees were the priestly aristocratic party, centered in Jerusalem. They accepted as scripture only the first five books of the Old Testament, followed only the letter of the law, rejected the oral legal traditions, and were opposed to teachings not found in the Pentateuch, such as the resurrection of the dead.

• Matthew links Pharisees and Sadducees together as enemies of Jesus

Abraham

• One of the patriarchs or "fathers" of God's chosen people.

• He was called by God to leave his homeland to go to the promised land, Canaan (area of present-day Israel).

• More information here.

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Dig deeper into this Sunday's Readings and Gospel with teachings from Brant Pitre.

Saints