Tag: #secondsundayadvent

Posted in ADVENT, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, MORNING Prayers, The WORD

The Second Sunday of Advent – 10 December 2017

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Second Sunday of Advent – 10 December 2017

God is coming to save his people and to open up our way into the future.

Daily Meditation:

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!…Isaiah 40:1

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire?   But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish…Peter 3:11-14

We begin this second week of our Advent journey
with this wonderful proclamation of the end of our exile.
Even in the wasteland of our lives,
there will be a smooth highway for our God.

Let us experience today what it will be like to be
freed from the power of our sins to hold us captive.
Our longing, our desire:
that we might be set free.

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

Today’s Daily Reflection – Intercessions:
To the Lord Jesus Christ, judge of the living dead,
let us pray:
Come, Lord Jesus!

Lord Jesus, You came to save sinners,
– protect us in times of temptation.

You will come in glory to be our judge,
– show in us your power to save.

Help us to keep the precepts of Your law with the strength
of the Spirit and to look forward in love to Your coming.

You are praised throughout the ages;   in Your mercy help
us to live devoutly and temperately in this life,
– as we wait in joyful hope for the revelation of Your glory.

Closing Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Through the darkness, I look for Your wisdom.
I want my heart to be open to You.
But sometimes in these days, it seems that
so many things come between us.
Help me to be awake and aware
of the radiance You bring to my life.
Help me to be grateful each day
for the blessings of family and friends.
Let me be a peacemaker
in my own life and in the world.
Let me pray especially for this difficult world
and those who are so in need of an end to violence.
My heart begs for this as my Advent prayer today.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amenthe second sunday of advent - 10 dec 2017

Posted in ADVENT

The Second Sunday of Advent – 4 December 2016

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Second Sunday of Advent

Preparing our Hearts and asking for Grace
We prepare this week by stepping up the longing. We move through this week by naming deeper and more specific desires.

Each morning this week, if even for that brief moment at the side of our beds, we want to light a second inner candle. We want to let it represent “a bit more hope.” Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say,

“Lord, I place my trust in You.”

Each day this week, as we encounter times that are rushed, even crazy, we can take that deep breath and make that profound prayer. Each time we face some darkness, some experience of “parched land” or desert, some place where we feel “defeated” or “trapped,” we hear the words, “Our God will come to save us!”

The grace we desire for this week is to be able to hear the promise and to invite our God to come into those real places of our lives that dearly need God’s coming. We want to be able to say:

“Lord, I place my trust in Your promise. Please, Lord, rouse Your power and come into this place in my life, this relationship, into this deep self-defeating pattern. Please come here and save me.”

Each night this week we can look back over the day and give thanks for the moments of deep breath, that opened a space for more trust and confidence in God’s fidelity to us. No matter how difficult the challenges we are facing – from the growing realization of our personal sinfulness, to any experience of emptiness or powerlessness, even in the face of death itself – we can give thanks for the two candles that faithfully push back the darkness. And, we can give thanks for the graces given us to believe that “Our God will come to save us” because we were given the courageous faith to desire and ask boldly.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people.
We await your coming. Come, O Lord.

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