On this the 2nd Day of Advent, the first weekday of the holy season, this reflection is a genuine and sincere invitation. During these Advent moments of waiting, I extend an invitation to set aside just eight minutes each day for your personal and very private time with God. As we await the Church' celebration the holy night of God's gift to us in the person of his Son, before you is the opportunity to develop the practice of time with God.
Let it be a specific time of each day. Print out this reflection if you wish ... just to get you away from the computer. As Fr. Henri Nouwen noted: the more often we afford ourselves time with God, the more we discover "the lost coin," the treasure we may have buried because we are so busy, the discovery that God is always and everywhere with us. Remember: just eight minutes ... or more if you are so inclined.
Today's readings are strong. Isaiah offers you a gift, an invitation. "Come, let us walk in the
light of the Lord" (Isaiah 2:5). The earlier verses of the chapter set the scene for us: "The mountain of the Lord's house ..." In your mind picture a house (Why not your own home or the castle of your dreams?), a house on the highest mountain. And what do these two images together speak to and for you in the context of your personal relationship with God?
The invitation is extended to you as Advent begins is to "walk in the way of the Lord." Perhaps you might consider the imagery as a concretization of God's plan is to lead us to recognize that his kingdom, his house on his mountain are symbols of his salvation and peace. God, through Isaiah's magnificent imagination and God's insightful gifts to him are not meant to frighten. These images symbolize God's gift of peace, his desire to offer us a place in his house on his mountain.
The words of Jesus that brought peace and salvation to the centurion teach us that God will always come to us and bring whatever healing we may need. Yet, notice this: the gift was given only after the centurion's seeing Jesus as an extraordinary person of care and healing which brought him to ask for help. We, too, need to know ourselves well enough to know what we should ask of the Lord.
On this first weekday of December and Advent, like the centurion, let us pray to our God with words of petition for the enlightening grace of his kingdom. Salvation is his gift to all ... if they but ask. It is "the ask" that makes real in hearts a genuine faith in Jesus. It is an awareness and an admission that we can walk in God's light if we take time to make God present in our lives during these days of "waiting."
Let it be a specific time of each day. Print out this reflection if you wish ... just to get you away from the computer. As Fr. Henri Nouwen noted: the more often we afford ourselves time with God, the more we discover "the lost coin," the treasure we may have buried because we are so busy, the discovery that God is always and everywhere with us. Remember: just eight minutes ... or more if you are so inclined.
Today's readings are strong. Isaiah offers you a gift, an invitation. "Come, let us walk in the
light of the Lord" (Isaiah 2:5). The earlier verses of the chapter set the scene for us: "The mountain of the Lord's house ..." In your mind picture a house (Why not your own home or the castle of your dreams?), a house on the highest mountain. And what do these two images together speak to and for you in the context of your personal relationship with God?
The invitation is extended to you as Advent begins is to "walk in the way of the Lord." Perhaps you might consider the imagery as a concretization of God's plan is to lead us to recognize that his kingdom, his house on his mountain are symbols of his salvation and peace. God, through Isaiah's magnificent imagination and God's insightful gifts to him are not meant to frighten. These images symbolize God's gift of peace, his desire to offer us a place in his house on his mountain.
The words of Jesus that brought peace and salvation to the centurion teach us that God will always come to us and bring whatever healing we may need. Yet, notice this: the gift was given only after the centurion's seeing Jesus as an extraordinary person of care and healing which brought him to ask for help. We, too, need to know ourselves well enough to know what we should ask of the Lord.
On this first weekday of December and Advent, like the centurion, let us pray to our God with words of petition for the enlightening grace of his kingdom. Salvation is his gift to all ... if they but ask. It is "the ask" that makes real in hearts a genuine faith in Jesus. It is an awareness and an admission that we can walk in God's light if we take time to make God present in our lives during these days of "waiting."
