Advent Readings for December 2nd

Today’s readings invite us to examine how we experience joy. Where do we find joy in our lives?

Isaiah 11:1-10

¹ A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,    

and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

² 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.

³ His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see    

or decide by what his ears hear,

⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor    

and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,    

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist    

and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb;    

the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

the calf and the lion will feed together,    

and a little child shall lead them.

⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze;    

their young shall lie down together;    

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,    

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

⁹ They will not hurt or destroy    

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord    

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Luke 10:21-24

²¹ At that very 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. ²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and 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.”

²³ Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ 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.”