Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to
be still before God.
Opening Prayer: My God, since You are with me, and since it is
Your will that I should apply my mind to these outward things, I pray that You
will give me the grace to remain with You and keep company with You. But so that my work may be better, Lord, work
with me; receive my work and possess all my affections. (The Practice of
the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence)
Scripture Reading for the Day: Luke 12:35-40
Reading for Reflection:
The word advent comes
from the Latin word adventus, which means coming. Thus Advent is
a season in which we are invited to watch and wait for God’s arrival among
us—making it a time of intense yearning and deep longing. It is a time filled with hope and
anticipation, a time that reflects the 400 years (between the Old and New
Testaments) that God’s people waited for Him to appear, to speak once again
after all of the years of silence. Can
you imagine? Four hundred years of
silence. Four hundred years of watching
and waiting.
How easy it would have been to lose
hope. How easy it would have been to be
filled with doubt and despair. How easy
it would have been to give up, to lose heart, to stop believing that God was
ever really going to show up again. How
easy it would have been to say, “My master is taking a long time in coming” and
begin living by our own rule and by our own agenda. Advent is the time where we take heed of the
words of Jesus, “Therefore, keep watch because you do not know on what day
your Lord will come.” So during the
days and weeks ahead, may we pay very careful attention, lest when he finally arrives,
we miss him altogether.
Reflection and Listening: silent and written
Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Closing Prayer: Lord, I ask for the grace to let go of my
own concerns and be open to what you are asking of me, to let myself be guided
and formed by my loving Creator. (Sacred Space: the Prayer
Book 2010 by Jesuit Communication Centre)
No comments:
Post a Comment