1 December 2026 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it.” Luke 10:23–24
Isaiah sees a shoot coming out of the stump of Jesse, the cut-down family tree of David. On this shoot the Spirit of the Lord rests: wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. These are the gifts the Church sees fulfilled in Christ and shared with us in Confirmation (CCC 1831). Under his rule the wolf lives with the lamb and “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD”.
In the Gospel Jesus, “rejoicing in the Holy Spirit”, thanks the Father for revealing these things not to the wise and intelligent but to “infants”. Then he tells his disciples that they see what prophets and kings longed to see. Advent invites us to become little enough to receive, and to recognise how blessed we are to know Christ.
Theme: “A shoot from the stump.”
God starts again from what seems dead; his Spirit rests on the Messiah; the little ones see.
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah 11:1–2
“At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”” Luke 10:21
Apply: Bring one “dead stump” in your life to God in prayer.
“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together.” Isaiah 11:6
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9
Apply: Make peace with one person this Advent.
“Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”” Isaiah 2:3
“Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”” Luke 10:23–24
Apply: Thank God tonight for the gift of faith.
God's new beginnings come from small shoots.
Become little, and you will see.
Take-home resolution: Pray “Come, Holy Spirit” each morning this Advent.
Dear brothers and sisters, on this first weekday of Advent Isaiah shows us a stump. The great family tree of David has been cut down; it looks dead. Yet the prophet says: a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots (Isaiah 11:1). Advent begins with hope where everything seems finished.
Upon this shoot the Spirit of the Lord will rest: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). The Church sees here the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which Christ possesses in fullness and shares with us in Confirmation.
And the fruit of this King is peace: the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, and a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6). It is a picture of creation healed. Old enemies are reconciled. The violence of the strong gives way to the trust of the small.
In the Gospel Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and thanks the Father, because these things have been hidden from the wise and the intelligent and revealed to infants (Luke 10:21). God's secrets are opened not to the proud but to the little ones.
Advent asks us to become little again: to admit our need, to stop pretending to have everything under control, to receive like children. The little child of Isaiah's prophecy leads the wild animals; the little Child of Bethlehem will lead us to peace.
Is there a stump in your life, something that looks finished: a marriage, a vocation, a friendship, your prayer? Bring it to the Lord this Advent. He can make a shoot spring from it. And ask the Holy Spirit to renew his seven gifts in you, so that you may be ready for Christmas. Amen.
Children, Jesus was happy when little ones understood God. God loves to show His secrets to children. Thank Him today in a short prayer!
Lord Jesus, shoot from the stump of Jesse, let your Spirit rest on me too. Make me little enough to receive what you reveal, and grateful to see what prophets and kings longed to see. Amen.
Isaiah looks at a felled royal house and sees one green shoot, on whom the Spirit of the Lord will rest, and around whom creation itself will be at peace. In Luke that future arrives: Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and tells his disciples that their eyes are seeing what prophets and kings longed to see. The first reading is the longing of Advent; the Gospel says the waiting has not been in vain.
Setting.
Isaiah prophesied in Judah in the eighth century BC, when Assyria was swallowing the small kingdoms around it and the kings of David's line were often a disappointment. Chapter 10 has just ended with the image of a great forest cut down by the Lord. Chapter 11 begins with what grows after the axe: hope comes where everything looks finished.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” (11:1)
God's promise to David (2 Samuel 7) survives the failure of David's sons. The stump looks dead, but the root is alive.
“The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (11:2)
The Hebrew names six gifts, and “fear of the Lord” comes again in v. 3. The Greek and Latin versions render the first “fear” as “piety”, and so the Church came to count seven gifts.
“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid” (11:6)
This is poetry about a world healed at its root, with the harmony of Eden restored. The reason follows in v. 9: the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Where God is known, no one needs to hurt anyone.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism sees in these verses the features of the promised Messiah, on whom the Spirit rests (CCC 712), and draws from them its teaching on the seven gifts, which “belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David” (CCC 1831). St Paul quotes v. 10 to show that the nations too hope in Christ (Romans 15:12). St Jerome, playing on the Latin virga (shoot) and virgo (virgin), took the shoot as Mary and the flower that rises from it as Christ (in substance).
Setting.
The disciples have just come back from their mission full of joy (10:17–20). Jesus tells them to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. Then he himself rejoices. Matthew has the same saying (Matthew 11:25–27), but only Luke tells us of the joy and of the Holy Spirit.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (10:21)
The whole Trinity appears in one verse: the Son rejoices in the Holy Spirit and gives thanks to the Father. The shoot of Isaiah, on whom the Spirit rests, is praying.
“no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (10:22)
To “know” here means a shared life and not only information. We know the Father only because the Son lets us into what he himself has with the Father.
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” (10:23)
The prophets, Isaiah among them, saw from far away (compare Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 1:10–12). The disciples are looking at the promise itself.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism counts this among the two explicit prayers of Jesus preserved from his public ministry, and notes that each begins with thanksgiving (CCC 2603). It also cites the parallel in Matthew when it teaches that Jesus revealed God as Father in an unheard-of sense (CCC 240). The Church's Advent is a school for such little ones: the Lord who came is known by those who receive him as a gift.
Are there six gifts of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah, or seven?
The Hebrew text of 11:2–3 names six and mentions the fear of the Lord twice. The Greek and Latin translations gave the first mention as “piety”, which gives seven. The Church's list of seven (CCC 1831) rests on that long reading of the text. Seven also suggests fullness, which is the point: the Spirit rests on the Messiah without measure, and we share his gifts.