Our readings for the Second Sunday of Advent are:
- Baruch 5: 1-9
- Psalms 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
- Philippians 1: 4-5, 8-11
- Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36
- Looking forward
- This time of year is all about arrivals, blessings that God has been preparing for us for a long time, and which are now about to come to fruition. God asks His people to accept His blessings in faith before we can see them.
- What are some unexpected blessings that have come in your life from God's hand?
- When did you understand that God was going to give those blessings to you?
- How did God prepare you to receive them?
- Finding joy, even when you don't expect it
- You could define the joy of the lord as "the gladness of heart that comes of knowing God, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit."
- Can you think of a time when you have felt that sort of joy?
- What was the occasion that made you feel that way?
- What has to be present in your life in order to find such joy?
- Do you feel that such joy is in God's plan for all of us?
- Partners in the Gospel
- None of us ministers alone. Often we find partners in unexpected places and times, performing services that we never knew were needed.
- Who are some of the partners in your ministries through the years?
- How have they transformed you in your work together?
- Do you think that you have been transformative to anyone else?
- Why?
- How is Jesus coming today?
- God moves without a great deal of fanfare. By contrast, sports figures, entertainers, politicians each make quite a stir when they arrive at a scene. Anything that they do is newsworthy. Everyone wants to know everything about these famous ones. And yet, beneath the surface, where only the humble have the eyes to see, God is at work.
- In these times of turmoil, where do you see God moving? Maybe its a relationship that is finding healing, or someone who was on the margins gradually being recognized and being invited into the community. Maybe God moving shows Himself in a deepening prayer life, or a growing sense of joy.
- Where would you like to see God moving? Where is healing needed in your life or the life of your family, our parish?
- What must we do to prepare for that advent?
- Preparation for Reconciliation
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Where do I need to be more open to God's movement in my life?
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Is God offering me joy that I'm unaware of?
- How is God asking me to partner with others in ministry?
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Where is God moving in my life today?
God's Midwife
I never thought much about the life of a midwife.
Ushering new life into this world, yet having nothing to do with its beginning.
Ready to press a cold compress to a worried brow.
Ready to hold the hand of a mother in anguish.
Ready to give the brooding father something to do so that he feels useful.
My God is looking for another sort of birth:
A birth of hope in the breast of His children.
Hope that, despite their captivity, they can be free.
Despite their despair they can step into their true destiny.
Despite their cold, cynical heart, they can deeply experience God's infinite love.
God of my fathers
Kindle in me the fires of your passion -
For all of your beloved that you bring into my life.
Help me to accept them as you do.
And set aside my fear of those who are different from me.
That I might find your joy of heart in their celebration of your Advent.
Shalom!
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