Sunday, January 4th, Epiphany of the Lord: Matthew 2:1-12 Is there a particular gift that the Lord Jesus is asking of me today?
Monday, January 5th, Matthew 4:12-17,23-25 Repentance is both a TURNING AWAY from sin and a TURNING TO God. What obstacle to His love am I being asked to TURN AWAY from right now? How am I being called to turn to God in prayer and in action right now?
Tuesday, January 6th, Mark 6:34-44 Why all the leftovers? Was the Lord just showing his apostles (note: 12 baskets, one for each of the apostles) that he would meet our needs with an abundance, and not in some meager way? Has the Lord come through for me recently in some overflowing way?
Wednesday, January 7th, Mark 6:45-52 "Do not be afraid!" God says this 365 times in the Scriptures: once for every day of the year. Do I have a special need to hear Him say this to me today?
Thursday, January 8th, Luke 4:14-22a Just a few days into his public life and ministry, Jesus returns to his hometown, he goes to the synagogue where everyone knows him and his family, he "unrolled the scroll and found" this passage from the prophet Isaiah. Why did he choose this passage? Want to see how this ended? Luke 4:22-30
Friday January 9th, Luke 5:12-16 Lepers were "the untouchable" because of the fear of catching their dreaded disease. People would do ANYTHING to avoid coming into contact with them. Who in my life is "untouchable"? Who do I go way out of my way to avoid? Do I need to reconsider this? Saturday, January 10th, John 3:22-30 In what aspect of my life does there need to be less of me so that there can be more of Jesus?
Christmas Season Dec 28 through Jan 3
Sunday, December 28th, Holy Family Sunday Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 Every family goes through trying times...even the Holy Family. Their family life begins with Mary being "with child" but without a husband. Late in Mary's pregnancy Joseph is forced by order of the government to take her on the difficult journey to Bethlehem, where she gave birth—not in Bethlehem Memorial Hospital, but in a stinking barn. No sooner was Jesus born than his parents found out that the authorities are looking to hunt down and kill their little one. They hightail it to Egypt until the danger in Israel has passed. No cakewalk of a life. Do I know someone now who is in the midst of a terrible difficulty?
Monday, December 29th, the 5th Day Within the Octave of the Nativity Luke 2:22-35 Simeon longed to see the Messiah before he died, and God honored his prayer. "Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace." What is it, who is it, that I want to see before God takes me in death?
Tuesday, December 30th, the 6th Day Within the Octave of the Nativity: Luke 2:36-40 Who is the "Anna" in my life? Who is that person who strengthens me by their fasting and surrounds and protects me with their prayers? Who is God calling ME to be "Anna" to?
Wednesday, December 31st, the 7th Day Within the Octave of the Nativity: John 1:1-18 "He was in the world...but the world did not know him." He is still in the world: in us, with us, among us. Am I Am I recognizing him, loving him, serving him as he still walks among us still in what Mother Teresa sometimes called "his most dreaded disguise"?
Thursday, January 1st, the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God Luke 2:16-21 "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Catholic and Orthodox Christians in the East speak of praying "with the mind in the heart". I want to pray that way: not just thinking about Jesus in the mysteries of his life, death, and resurrection, but speaking to him, opening my heart to him, loving him in?
Friday, January 2nd John 1:19-28 What will I say when someone asks ME, "Who are you? ... What do you have to say for yourself?" How will I respond when JESUS asks me?
Saturday, January 3rd: John 1:29-34 "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world..." and my sin, too, in the bargain. Take it all away, Lord: my selfishness, my "settling" for something less than your joy for me, my falling-short, my lack of love. Open me to receive your love; make me more generous in sharing your love.
Week 4
Sunday of the 4th Week of Advent, December 21st: Matthew 1:18-24 Very direct and specific orders from the angelic messenger: "You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." What are those areas in my heart and in my life where I fall short of God's plan, His full joy, for me? Jesus himself summed up how we must step into God's purposes in this way: We were created to love God with everything we've got, every fiber of our being; and we're to love all the people that God sends into our life. (Ahem. Please see the Advent Schedule for today.)
Monday of the 4th Week of Advent, December 22nd: Luke 1:46-56 Is there a particular line in Mary's prayer that I can make my own today?
Tuesday of the 4th Week of Advent, December 23rd: Luke 1:57-66 Elizabeth's advanced age made her pregnancy a great concern as well as a joyful surprise. As soon as Mary found out about it she went to her cousin to assist her. There is no record of how helpful the families of Mary and Joseph were with their situation: the greatest "crisis pregnancy" in human history. Is there someone in my extended family that could use my prayers and my assistance at this time?
Wednesday of the 4th Week of Advent, December 24th: Luke 1:67-79 Is there one line in particular in Zechariah's prayer that I can make my own today?
Christmas Day, Thursday, December 24th: Luke 2:1-14 Do I hear the angel directly addressing ME in this moment? "Do not be afraid! For behold, I proclaim TO YOU good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born FOR YOU who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign FOR YOU: YOU will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
Friday, December 26th, the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr: Acts of the Apostles 6:8-10 and7:54-59 Just in case I'm feeling all warm and gooey inside with a romanticized picture of the birth of the Son of God who is Christ and Lord, the Church provides me with a wake-up call: the martyrdom of St. Stephen. This is a possible consequence for faithfully following this Baby born in a barn in the one-horse town of Bethlehem.
Saturday, December 27th, the feast of St. John the Evangelist: John 1:1-5 and 9-14 A word is personal; it reaches out to communicate. St. John tells us that Jesus is that all-expressive Word so intensely personal that He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Word has become flesh, and has made His dwelling among us!
Week 3
Sunday, December 14th, Third Sunday of Advent: Matthew 11:2-11 John the Baptist didn't just tell people about Jesus. He sent them to Jesus to hear for themselves who Jesus is from his own lips. Who in my life has sent me to Jesus, has accompanied me as I try to find Him and listen to Him?
Monday of the Third Week of Advent, December 15th: Matthew 21:23-27 Is there some aspect of my life that I don't give Jesus "authority" over? My family? My friendships? My feuding? My work? My leisure? My politics?
Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent, December 16th: Matthew 21:28-32 The man in Jesus's parable should have had THREE sons. And the third son would have said to his father, "Sure, Dad. I'll go out to the vineyard right now", and then he'd go and do exactly that. I want to be that third son.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent, December 17th: Matthew 1:1-17 With today's gospel we reach a turn in the season of Advent: we begin our immediate preparations—liturgical and otherwise—for our celebration of the birth of "Jesus, who is called the Christ". Today's gospel is as close as we can get to a Family Photo Album for Jesus. Jesus's "family tree" was not so different from ours: a few heroes, a few villains, and an awful lot of mostly ordinary folks. I need to look over my own "family tree" as I keep company with the Lord right now. Who are the heroes? Who are the horse-thieves? And who are the people who—in lovely-but-ordinary ways—have shared God's love with me?
Thursday of the Third Week of Advent, December 18th: Matthew 1:18-25 How can I keep company more consciously and deliberately with Jesus, Emmanuel ("God is with us"), throughout my day today?
Friday of the Third Week of Advent, December 19th: Luke 1:5-25 John the Baptist was announced as someone who will "prepare a people fit for the Lord." What is one way in particular during what's left of this season of Advent that I can become a person "fit for the Lord"?
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent, December 20th: Luke 1:26-38 Once again I'm asked to make my own the Angel's greeting to Mary: "Hail, Mary, full of grace!". I sometimes turn to people I know who are good friends of the Lord and ask them to pray for me. How often do I turn to Mary to ask HER to pray for me?
Week 2
December 7th, Sunday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Matthew 3:1-13 The Advent message of the Baptizer is "REPENT!" This is shorthand for "TURN AWAY from everything that causes misery and mayhem and chaos and confusion and pain, and TURN TO the Source of all growth and goodness, peace and joy, hope and love." What in particular right now do I need to turn away from? How is God asking me to turn to Him in some new and deeper way during this Advent Season?
December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Luke 1:26-38 Mary heroically embraces God's ways over her own plans for her life. (The consequences of a pregnancy outside of marriage in that time and culture were worse than we can imagine.) Am I open to God's guidance rearranging something on my To Do List for today...for my life?
December 9th, Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Matthew 18:12-14 How have I "strayed"? (And if I think I haven't strayed, I just haven't noticed...which is exactly how a sheep strays from the flock.) How have I fallen short, missed the mark, ignored a need, created pain or division, thought only of myself, didn't speak up, gone through my day without acknowledging God, lived my life as if God doesn't exist?
December 10th, Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says to me: "Come to me, all you who are overworked and overwhelmed, numb and exhausted. And I will give you rest." I need to let the-best-of-all-possible-Shepherds hold me close. I don't even need to talk with Him. I just need to rest in Him.
December 11th, Thursday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Matthew 11:11-15 John the Baptist was the last and the greatest of the prophets...yet "the least in the Kingdom of Heaven (that's ME, by the way) is greater than he"?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! How can I be greater than St. John the Baptist?!?!? (Hint: John could only point to Jesus when He came.)
December 12th, Friday of the 2nd Week of Advent, Our Lady of Guadalupe: As I pray the Hail Mary with the Angel Gabriel and Elizabeth (Luke 1:28 and 42) today, I need to make that concluding request (for a faithful life and a happy death in Mary's company) my own in a new and deeper way.
December 13th, Saturday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Matthew 17:9a,10-13 As I prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I need to keep His cross before me...because Jesus came to die...to give His life so that I can have life...eternal life.
Week 1
Sunday, November 30th, the First Sunday of Advent: Matthew 24:37-44 One of the primary ways that we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Jesus into His world is by preparing for His SECOND coming in glory at the end of time. We need to GET ready to welcome Him when He comes; and we need to LIVE ready to welcome Him. We need to WAKE UP and STAY awake. What is the NEXT STEP I need to take to get ready to welcome the Lord?
Monday of the First Week of Advent, December 1st: Matthew 8:5-11 This may seem an odd reading for the first weekday in Advent, but the faith and humility of this military man remind us of what our attitude should be during this season. To help us grow in faith and humility, the Church has adapted the words of the centurion, and put them on our lips before we receive Communion: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." We can make the centurion's prayer our own and make it new at any time.
Tuesday of the First Week of Advent, December 2nd: Luke 10:21-24 When we are eavesdropping on Jesus in the Gospels praying to His Father and ours, we'll notice that He is always praying for and about US, His little brothers and sisters. In this passage, Jesus is praying about his childlike (not childish) siblings. What is one way that I should be more childlike before God our Father?
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent, December 3rd: Matthew 15:29-37 Seven loaves and a few fish were certainly not enough to provide a picnic lunch for the hundreds that had gathered with Jesus on that Galilean hillside. But when put into the hands of Jesus, they became enough—and more than enough—to satisfy that great crowd. We may be overwhelmed by the needs around us; we may feel "not enough". But we place ourselves in the hands of Jesus and allow Him to make us enough—and maybe more than enough—to be the part of the answer that He wants us to be.
Thursday of the First Week of Advent, December 4th: Matthew 7:21,24-27 What is God's will for me right now as I prepare to welcome the Lord Jesus? What is my next step if I'm listening to God and acting on what I hear?
Friday of the First Week of Advent, December 5th: Matthew 9:27-31 "Jesus warned them sternly, 'See that no one knows about this.'" And they went out and blabbed it everywhere. We've received different marching orders. When was the last time I shared with someone the good things that God is doing in my life and in His world?
Saturday of the First Week of Advent, December 6tth: Matthew 9:35 - 10:1, 5a, 6-8 "The Kingdom of heaven" is God's reign, God's rule; and Jesus says it's "at hand". Look at your hand. God's reign is that close. Does the way I live my life back that up?