Advent Meditations: Monday 29 November

Nov 29, 2021 by

Mon
Nov 29
am: 1, 2, 3
pm: 4, 7
Amos 2:6-16 2 Peter 1:1-11 Matt 21:1-11

MONDAY ADVENT I

ABOUT THE LITURICAL CALENDAR St. Paramon and Companions, Martyrs, 250-   On this day the church 375 martyrs who were put to death on the same day during the persecutions of the Church under Emperor Trajanus Decius, in the year 250 under the banner of St. Paramon and Companions.

MEDITATION

The words of the Prophet Amos states there have been three critical transgressions by Israel,

  • They have mistreated the poor
  • They silenced the voice of the godly
  • they disregarded the favor of God

Amos states that God’s indictment of his people starts not with their idolatry (which was a problem in the Northern Kingdom of Israel), but with their injustice, with the way they had unjustly treated the needy, the poor and the afflicted. Since the earliest of days righteousness has been a biblical standard of behavior, with justice being a standard of behavior of how righteousness is lived out.

 

As we consider the widening gap in the world between the haves and have nots, Advent is a time to consider our attitudes of justice and mercy towards the needy, poor and the afflicted? How can this Advent season be a time for us to reflect On God’s justice and mercy for the least of this world exercised by his agents, his followers? Amos points out well that the people of Israel failed to honor God by reflecting justice and mercy. How can we take steps this season to do so with the people around us?

 

PRAYER: Gracious God, we pray you this day increase our desire for justice and mercy as an expression of your will in this Holy Season. May we be open to the manifest destiny  you have for  each of us to be instruments of your healing to the least as signs of grace to make the hurting  of this world whole. We ask this in the name of the One lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever.

 

ADVENT ACTIVITY Look at today’s newspaper and find stories of places in the world that need the mercy of Christ. Make those people and places part of your prayer and ask three other people to share in those special intentions.

 

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Our waiting is always shaped by alertness to the Word. It is waiting in the knowledge that someone wants to address us. The question is, are we home? Are we at our address, ready to respond to the doorbell? We need to wait together, to keep each other at home spiritually, so that when the Word comes it can become flesh in us. That is why the Book of God is always in the midst of those who gather. We read the Word so that the Word can become flesh and have a whole new life in us.” (Fr. Henri J.M Nouwen, Finding My Way Home, p.107)

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