Advent Reflection for Sunday, December 8 – The Second Sunday of Advent
Readings: Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6, Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11, Luke 3:1-6
Invitation to Prayer: Come, God of peace. prepare our troubled and burdened hearts to receive you more this day.
Reflection: Advent often flies by for me. Four weeks doesn’t seem like a lot of time to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Mary carried Jesus in the womb for nine months, literally allowing herself to be transformed from the inside out for the coming of Christ. Yet we condense that time to an intentional and intense four weeks of preparation. Last week we reflected on Hope that only comes from God, this week, we focus on the Peace that only comes from God.
I love this first sentence we hear from God today to prepare us for His peace, “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever.” Our world is so broken right now. We live in constant stress and fear that life can often seem miserable. But that is not the story God wants to tell us. God’s story is not one of misery and woe, rather it is one of victory and peace.
As a child, one of my chores was pulling the weeds in the flowerbed in front of our home, and I hated it! It was the worst thing in the world for my adolescent self because it took forever and was so boring. Yet, in the weeding of the flowerbed, the path to our home looked inviting to my friends and family. People felt welcomed and invited to a beautiful and peaceful space. Today, my life can be quite chaotic. I keep a full schedule and hold high expectations to perform to the best of my ability. Because of that, I can get bogged down in the stresses of life and feel anxious and worried about many things. Today, I’m reminded in these readings to slow down and prepare the flowerbed of my heart for the coming of Christ. I must intentionally make time to pull the weeds from my heart that make me anxious and worried so that the flowers of peace may rest there instead.
Today, as we sit with these readings, my hope and prayer for you is the same as St. Paul’s for the Philippians, “That your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, help us to slow down and weed our hearts of all the things that rob the peace you have bestowed on us.
Closing: “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Alex Bodenschatz served as a NET Missionary from 2018-2020 and now works with NET as the Easter Regional Recruiter.
https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/advent-reflections-2024
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