Archdiocese Of St. Louis

Today on our Jesse Tree, we are considering David as we move along our Advent journey to Christmas. You probably remember David from the story of his defeat of Goliath, the giant with a slingshot. The symbol of David is a shepherd’s crook. When I see a crook it reminds me of the long sticks or branches that my brother and I whittled at the beginning of each summer we spent in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. We used the stick for protection, to keep rattle snakes away as we went picking huckleberries. When David was young, he used a shepherd’s “crook” for a variety of purposes as he spent years in the fields and mountains with the family sheep. As shepherd, we can imagine that surrounded by the peace and harmony of nature, David’s love for God and for his creation grew. We have clear evidence that in those years David opened his heart to the voice of God. Our proof is his poems and songs which we call the Psalms, found in the Old Testament. We are certain that Jesus learned to pray the Psalms of D