YES! LET IT BE!  Readings and Prayers For The Week After Advent Sunday 2 (Dec.11-15):

by | Dec 8, 2017 | 0 comments

  1. Monday, Dec. 11: Isaiah 61: 1-4; 8-11: Jesus read from this passage for his hometown inaugural address, in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4: 14-22). But these words applied first to a people who would be restored to Zion from exile and captivity.
    1. In what ways does Jesus fulfill the promises of this passage?
    2. In what ways do you, or the church, fulfill the hopes of this passage?
    3. In what ways might you?

 “Raise up in the hearts of all who serve You desires that are pure, that are strong, and which prepare us for Your coming.” Benedictine daily prayer

  1. Tuesday, Dec. 12: Psalm 126: This is one of the “Songs of Ascent,” sung by pilgrims on the way to one of the three great annual feasts and sacrifices in the temple. It likens the annual return to Zion to the experience of Israel’s return from exile.
    1. When have you known and experienced such a surprising reversal of fortune, and unexpected joy?
    2. What other “great things” has God done for you?

 “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The constant, abiding prayer of an anonymous Russian pilgrim who left a record of his journey at the Mt. Athos Monastery in Greece.

  1. Wednesday, Dec. 13: I Thessalonians 5: 16-24: What looks at first like a laundry list of random, disconnected pieces of advice is, in context, actually a description of how to live in the hope and expectation of Christ’s return.
    1. Which of these commands did you most need to hear and remember today?
    2. What will you do, practically speaking, to put it into practice today?
      “At present we are in a world of shadows. What we see is not substantial. Suddenly it will be rent in twain and vanish away, and our Maker will appear. And then, I say, that first appearance will be nothing less than a personal intercourse between the Creator and every creature. He will look on us, while we look on Him…and that is the reason for religious worship….it is through worship and the sacraments that we prepare to come before the Lord, face to face” By John Henry Cardinal Newman, 19th England
  2. Thursday, Dec. 14: John 1: 6-8; 19-28: The testimony of John the Baptist is striking and instructive, in that he constantly redirects his inquisitors’ attention from himself to Christ.
    1. In what ways does your life reflect and glorify Christ to the world about you?
    2. In what ways might your life better reflect and glorify Christ?
      “Shine through me and be so in me
      That everyone with whom I come into contact
      May feel your presence within me.
      Let them look up and see no longer me—but only Jesus.      ”

By John Henry Cardinal Newman, 19th C. England

 

  1. Friday, Dec. 15: Luke 1: 46-55: This passage is often called The Magnificat, from the first word in the Latin version of this passage, that has been sung or prayed in Western and Eastern churches for centuries. On Youtube can be found beautiful Western settings of The Magnificat by J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Haydn, Mozart, and John Rutter, and in Eastern Orthodox settings by Rachmaninoff and Tolstukalov
    1. What would so many Christians, throughout all history and traditions, find to identify with Mary’s prayer?
    2. With what in Mary’s prayer can you identify and pray?“The price of our salvation is offered to you, [Mary]. We shall be set free at once if you consent…This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.”

From a sermon by Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th C. France

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