December 12/Second Saturday of Advent 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 in college and with several inches on me). As Fred the technician zeroed in on the tiny fetal image, I saw…
Keeping Advent 13: Eliminate the Negative
December 11/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: Blessed are the Peacemakers
December 10/Second Thursday of Advent “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” ~ Matt 11.12 The events of the last several months — the relentless advance of the corona virus, the civil unrest as our country has reckoned anew with acts of racism, the…
Keeping Advent 11: The Things We Carry
December 9/Second Wednesday of Advent “Come to me, all you that are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” ~ Matt 11.28 What are your burdens right now? There are the usual workaday worries — about the well-being of friends and family members, our job status, physical health, financial condition, spiritual state. The pandemic and the election…
Keeping Advent 10: Seeking and Hiding
December 8/Second Tuesday of AdventFeast of the Immaculate Conception The Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” ~ Gen 3.9-10 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let…
Keeping Advent 9: Look Here!
December 7/Second Monday of Advent Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.” ~ Isa 35.3-4 Who among us in these parlous times would not admit to the occasional weak hands and feeble knees? Who among us has not experienced, if…
Keeping Advent 8: Memento Mori
December 6/Second Sunday of Advent Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness? ~ 2 Peter 3.11 The daily recording of the COVID-19 death toll has forced upon us an acute awareness of mortality. In the absence of a vaccine — now, thankfully, on…
Keeping Advent 7: Bringing in the Harvest
December 5/First Saturday of Advent When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” ~ Matt 9.36-38 However you…
Keeping Advent 6: Believing is Seeing
December 4/First Friday of Advent And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” ~ Mt 9.28-29 When we had our house on the market a few years ago, I dreaded getting the…
Keeping Advent 5: Do the Right Thing
December 3/First Thursday of Advent Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” ~ Matt 7.21 How quick we are to trust in our own righteousness. We quietly congratulate ourselves on the faithfulness of our worship,…