December 16/Third Friday of Advent All who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant,Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer. ~ Isa. 56.6-7 In Hebrew, “sabbath” literally means a stop, a pause, a cessation of activity. To insist on Sabbath observance, as the Lord does in today’s…
Keeping Advent 19: Cold Shower
December 15/Third Thursday of Advent All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves. ~ Luke 7.29-30 One of our favorite family stories is that…
Keeping Advent 18: Drum Majors
December 14/Third Wednesday of Advent At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the LORD to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who…
Keeping Advent 17: Close Encounters
December 13/Third Tuesday of Advent “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” ~ Psalm 34.19 The holidays do not pair well with grief and sorrow, but many experience these emotions with special intensity during this season. What leaves us more brokenhearted than losing someone we love? In the face of such loss…
Keeping Advent 16: Leaps and Bounds
December 12/Third Monday of AdventFeast of Our Lady of Guadalupe When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ~ Luke 1.41 I will never forget the ten-week ultrasound for my fourth child (now, alas, a college senior). As Fred the technician zeroed in on the tiny image, I saw…
Keeping Advent 15: Transformers
December 11/Third Sunday of Advent Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” ~ Matt 11.4-5 In a 2014 graduation speech at the University of…
Keeping Advent 14: Conversation Partners
December 10/Second Saturday of Advent As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ~ Matt 17.9-10 It is meet and right to set aside dedicated daily prayer time, but we don’t have to stop there. Prayer is, at its core, an ongoing conversation with the One…
Keeping Advent 13: The Answer Is No!
December 9/Second Friday of Advent Jesus said to the crowd: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,…
Keeping Advent 12: Around the Corner
December 8/Second Thursday of AdventSolemnity of the Immaculate Conception Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” ~ Luke 1.38 Luke does not tell us exactly what Mary is doing when the angel Gabriel appears, but artists from the Italian Fra Angelico in the 15th-century to the British…
Keeping Advent 11: Toil and Trouble
December 7/Second Wednesday of Advent Come to me, all you who are toiling and are burdened, and I will give you rest. ~ Matt 11.28 Sometimes our human tendency to try to control our lives gets the better of us. We feel burdened by worries or anxieties – small daily aggravations that mount, a beloved family member or friend who…