Today’s reading from Isaiah 54 is also used in the Liturgy of the Word at the Easter vigil. In the light of the Paschal candle this reading speaks to the promise of rescue from death and the hope of new life. In our Advent liturgy we can hear it as a text of eager longing …
Category Archives: Monastic
Wednesday, Advent, Week Three
Isaiah 45:6c-8,18 21b-25Luke 7:18b-23 We’re back to the Prophet Isaiah for our first reading today. Our anticipation of the coming of the Messiah gains momentum and Isaiah contrasts God’s powers with those of the popular Babylonian gods: Apart from me all is nothing.I am the Lord, unrivalled,I form the light and create the dark.I make …
Tuesday, Advent, Week Three
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 The third week of Advent continues to offer us challenging texts, texts that don’t yield their meaning on first reading. Today our text comes from the prophet Zephaniah. Zephaniah is called, as all prophets are, to see the world as God sees it. There is a crisis looming for the people in …
Third Week of Advent, Monday
Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17Matthew 21:23-27 Today’s first reading is a rather unfamiliar text from the Book of Numbers. We hear one of the oracles of the prophet Balaam. How fair are your tents, O Jacob!How fair your dwelling, Israel!Like valleys that stretch afar,like gardens by the banks of a river,like aloes planted by the Lord,like cedars …
Sunday, Advent, Week Three
Zephaniah 3:14-18 Luke 3:10-18 As the weeks of Advent progress we are invited deeper and deeper into the mystery of our redemption. The Third Sunday of Advent sounds a note of JOY that is impossible to ignore. The first reading from the prophet Zephaniah is remarkable in its joy and image of God; The Lord …
Saturday, Advent, Week Two
Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4, 9-12 Today there is a gear shift in the weekday Liturgy of the Word as we move from Isaiah’s prophecies to a selection of texts from a range of Old Testament books. The focus of the during Second Week of Advent has been preparing the way of the Lord. We look back to …
Friday, Advent, Week Two
Isaiah 48:17-19 Our reading from Isaiah is short today. It’s just three verses. But those contain so much. Here God speaks with a tone that is tender and deliberate: ‘This says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is good for you.I lead you in the …
Thursday, Advent, Week Two
These words struck me this morning at Office of Readings*: ‘When God saw the world falling away from himself through fear, he acted at once to draw it back by love, invite it by grace, preserve it by affection, and hold it together by compassion.’ ( St Peter Chrysologus) From the very beginning of the …
Wednesday, Advent, Week Two
The Immaculate Conception Gen 3:9-15, 20Luke 1:26-38 In her book ‘Born Contemplative’, Madeleine Simon writes about the spiritual development of young children and explores her thesis that we are all born with an innate capacity for God. She says that a child’s faith journey begins the moment the mother knows that she is pregnant. As …
Tuesday, Advent, Week Two
Isaiah 40:1-11 ‘Console my people, console them.’ Today’s text from Isaiah is perhaps one of the most familiar of the all texts used during Advent. Handel’s Messiah has surely played a part in making this part of our collective scriptural psyche. The words of comfort come from the beginning of the Second Book of Isaiah. …