Advent Meditations: Tuesday 4 December

Dec 4, 2018 by Jill

Feast Day :  St. Barbara, Martyr, 4^th Century –  She lived  as a pagan under a  tyrannical father, Dioscorus,who  had kept her jealously secluded in a lonely tower . Forced solitude, she gave herself to prayer and study, and contrived to receive instruction and Baptism in secret by a  priest of the church . Additionally,  Barbara resisted her father’s wish that she marry. Then on one occasion, during her father’s absence, Barbara had three windows inserted into a bathhouse her father was constructing. Her purpose was thereby to honor the Trinity. Dioscorus was enraged by her action and by her conversion. So, he himself denounced her before the civil tribunal. She was horribly tortured, and at last was beheaded. Her own father, merciless to the last, acted as her executioner. She is included in the Western Church as part of the 14 Holy Helpers

MEDITATION- In today’s Gospel we are given a very powerful image  and teaching in the importance of the cornerstone. The corner stone typically in the days of Jesus was a heavy and perfectly formed stone, and upon it the whole structure depends. When one is laying out plans for a building and the foundations is set it is set according to the plans of the architect that will allow the building to stand for the test of time. IS the bedrock of our life, truly able to stand the best of time as we enter the Advent season again?

God, who is the master builder of the church and of our lives Is not a builder who seeks to cater to a particular whim and fancy. He is building for eternity and offers us the structure that provides that. His vision and values not a rebranded version that makes live tolerable.  Advent reminds us again that there is a reason why we have been set where we have been set—trust the master builder’s reasoning—seek to fulfill God’s design for our life and forget about the foundations of this world which are about things that will not endure.

PRAYER:  “Lord, help me welcome You once again and make room for You in my daily life, that You may make Your home in my heart”. Amen

Activity/Spiritual Discipline – – As part of the Advent journey send a card to a friend or loved one who lost a family member during this year. Let them know you are praying from them and thinking of them this Christmas.

ANCIENT WORDS/PRESENT GRACE:  “Thus, dear brothers, may we who await the birth of the Lord cleanse ourselves of all the remnants of sin! Let us fill his treasuries with many gifts, so that upon the arrival of that holy day we may welcome the strangers, support the widows, and clothe the poor!.” — St. Maximus of Turin (Homily 60)

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