Sacred Mystery,
waiting on the threshold
of this new year,
you open the gates
and beckon to me:

“Come! Come!
Be not wary of what awaits you
as you enter the unknown terrain;
be not doubtful of your ability
to grow from its joys and sorrows.
For I am with you.

I will be your Guide.

I will be your Protector.

You will never be alone.”

Today: I remember that I am never alone.

Source: Out of the Ordinary, p. 145

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
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Our life is a journey.

We are always on the road.

Each time another January greets us,

we have an opportunity to pause,

to see where we have been,

to notice how far we have come

and ponder how that journey has been for us.

Today: I reflect on how my journey has been.

Source: May I Have This Dance?, p. 20

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
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Guardian of this new year,

I set aside my fears, worries, concerns.

I open my life to mystery, to beauty,

to hospitality, to questions,

to the endless opportunity

of discovering you in my relationships,

and to all the silent wisps of wonder

that will draw me to your heart.

Today: I move beyond concerns and worries.

Source: Out of the Ordinary, p. 145

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
https://www.avemariapress.com/products/anchors-for-the-soul

Each new year extends an invitation
to re-enter the process of transformation,
for self and for our world.
We stand at the threshold,
looking back and looking ahead.
This valuable process involves
a deliberate letting go of the past
and an intentional welcoming
of future possibilities.
We will make choices and decisions
in the coming year that will create our reality.
We live on a wounded planet
and share life in a world of suffering humanity.
But we do not despair.
The Holy One continues to awaken us.
We have what we need to bring peace
within ourselves and our world.

Today: I let go of the past and welcome the future.

Source: Prayer Seeds, p. 141

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
https://www.avemariapress.com/products/anchors-for-the-soul

Another year is coming to an end.
I can feel her tug at my calendar.
I can sense her insistent movement.
I can hear her call to cross over.

Something in me wants to hold on,
to gather all the good things close to me.
A part of me that yearns for security
keeps encouraging me to grasp it all.

Then a tiny thimble-full of light
moves its way through my insecurity;
it weaves a thread of courage,
sending sparks into the dark.
Up and up it rises through my spirit
until it meets my controlling grip.

Today: I am ready to risk the road of another year.

Source: May I have This Dance?, pp. 18-19

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
https://www.avemariapress.com/products/anchors-for-the-soul

The old year runs away from me.
I hang onto her sleeve
but she shakes me loose.
where does the old year go
when the new year comes?

She slips away into memories,
falls into the crevice of wishes
and ought-to-have-dones.
she waits no longer upon promises,
turns her back on might-have-been.

The elves of the old year step in,
pack up the struggles, store the joys,
tuck them away in the bulging box,
spreading them out on the psyche’s floor.

Today: I prepare interiorly for the new year.

Source: Out of the Ordinary, p. 147

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
https://www.avemariapress.com/products/anchors-for-the-soul

“Lift up, o gates, your lintels” (Ps 24:7).

Through metaphor, the psalmist encourages us
to make more room in our hearts
for the magnitude of God’s love to enter.
God’s entrance needs much openness.
It is the expansive heart
that has a large doorway of welcome
the big heart that has an entrance
through which God’s grace can easily move.

Gateway to Heaven,
your love is wide and deep.
May the doorway of my heart
always be large enough to welcome you.
Come enter in.

Today: I expand the doorway of my heart.

Source: Inviting God In, p. 36

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
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Source of divine Light,

Emmanuel, God-with-us,

your Radiant Love

illuminated our waiting world

with the surprise

of your Bethlehem birth.

Each year since then

we celebrate this astonishing event,

rejoicing in your coming anew,

not as a newborn Babe,

but as the hidden Presence of divinity

contained within each of us.

To our great astonishment,

we have become your dwelling place.

We are now your Bethlehem.

Today: I rejoice in being a dwelling place of divinity.

Source: Out of the Ordinary, p. 45

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
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Christmas.
Memory of the Great Birthing,
the Holy One emerging
from the womb of Mary,

coming with a heart
wide enough
to embrace the one and the many
now
with the fullness of acceptance.

Christmas.
More than a memory.

Invitation:
embrace the one and the many
now
with the same wide love.

Today: I prayerfully embrace the one and the many.

Source: Prayer Seeds, p. 7

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
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That first look into your mother’s eyes,
The love you beheld looking back at you.
Were you both enthralled with each other?
Her young arms that cradled you safely
Would embrace you again at your death,
But this painful part of your life was hidden
As you rested in her complete attention.
Son of Mary, child of a pure-hearted mother,
You are with me from birth through death,
Holding me the same way your mother held you.

Today: The Son of Mary beholds me with love.

Source: Fragments of Your Ancient Name, December 26

This reflection from Anchors for the Soul: Daily Wisdom for Inspiration and Guidance by Joyce Rupp is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press.
https://www.avemariapress.com/products/anchors-for-the-soul