Third Sunday of Advent

Our readings for the Third Sunday in Advent are:

1. Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10
   
2. Psalms 146: 67, 8-9, 9-10
   
3. James 5: 7-10
   
4. Matthew 11: 2-11
   

• Be strong, fear not!
  
• It appears that, as we get older, we fear more and more things.  Some of them are understandably physiological in nature, such as who will care for me when I cannot care for myself, will others still treat me with respect even when I am feeble?  Other fears center around all of the changes that we have witnessed in the world around us, and the certain sense that those changes will only grow more frequent and intense with the passage of time.
• What do you fear?
• If you pray about those things, how do you pray about them?
• Do you think God will guide you around those things that you fear, or through them?
• To what extent do you feel protected by God from those fears?
  

• Lord come and save us
  
• As Christians, we often think of the word salvation in connection with salvation from our sins.  But there are so many things that we can cry out to God for salvation.
• What would you like to be saved from?  Maybe you find it hard to trust God, or you have a feeling of hopelessness, or you feel stuck in some soul-sucking job.
• How are you praying about that today?
• What do you expect God to do for you in that situation?
• What do you feel God is calling you to do in that situation?
  

• Patience in the face of need
  
•  God's timing often is very different from ours, and that is hard for us to understand.
• When have you had to have patience with God in your life?
• How was that patience rewarded?
• What is the difference between being patient, waiting in hope, and just giving up?
• How did you keep that hope alive?
  

• Working through your offense
  
• We used to have a priest celebrate Mass with us named Fr. Al Scott.  Fr. Al always seemed to be asking two simple questions: "what are you doing for the poor" and "what are you doing to actively draw closer to God in your own life".  You never walked away from one of his homilies without being challenged.  Some took offense at him and his message.
• Have you ever been offended by a word from God?
• How did you get past that offense on your part?
• Do you think that God was patient with you?
• How has that experience continued to change you in the years since?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where might God be waiting on me to transform my fear?
   
2. Where is God calling me to participate in my own salvation?
3. Where might God be offering me hope, maybe in unexpected places?
   
4. Where is God inviting me to go deeper with Him?

Water me oh God

With the dew of your mercy that I might shower it on others.
Especially when they demand more of me than I know how to give,
When they seek what I scarce can find, even in myself.

Give me your hope in you, that I will rely on your saving help
For all my challenges large and small, day in, and day out.
Instead of trying to go it alone, and growing bitter in the attempt.

Help me to appreciate the gift that you have been in my life.
The faithfulness that you have shown me all of my days.
So that your life in my life can feed my faith, and my faith feed me.

Open my eyes that I may see your angels ever around me.
In the form of family, friends, loved ones, even the annoying ones.
That I may receive Your presence with open arms and heart.

Shalom!