Friday, December 19
Third Week of Advent

You come in peace and meekness and lowly will your cradle be; all clothed in human weakness shall we your Godhead see.

Most Nativity scenes enshrine the Holy Family in light and peaceful wonder. The soft glow emanating from the manger where the baby Jesus lay tells us of the consolation of God’s nearness, but the night of Jesus’s birth must have felt out of control for Mary. It’s not hard to imagine Mary’s exhaustion and Joseph’s worries. Jesus almost certainly cried.

This hymn reminds us that Christ still comes “clothed in human weakness” and that we can see his divinity in poverty—our own and our world’s. With the eyes of faith, we can find Jesus reaching for us in all those who are impoverished and in our own weakness.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, our Savior, you reveal the Father’s tender mercy and compassion. When I feel out of control or powerless, you are by my side. Help me turn to you when I am weak, to rely on your love as the foundation of my life. Jesus, my brother, you are my strength.

Ponder Today
Where will I encounter vulnerability today, and how will I find Jesus there?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, our Savior, you came into the most broken parts of our humanity
to raise us to the splendor of divine life. Increase my faith so that I look to
you and cling to you when that divine life feels far away. Jesus, my brother,
hold me close.

Thursday, December 18
Third Week of Advent

O Christ, whom nations sigh for, whom priest and prophet long foretold, come, break the captive’s fetters, redeem the long-lost fold.

Our Advent waiting should change the way we see. Our preparation should teach us how to welcome Christ into our lives and how to recognize the ways Christ is already acting in our daily experience. Advent is an apprenticeship into life in the kingdom of God. We are practicing new ways to recognize and participate in this reign that is already with us.

This apprenticeship means seeing the world from Christ’s point of view—to see what God desires for us. This vision faces continual challenges from the world and from our own self centeredness. Over and over, we fall short of God’s dreams for us. So we pray for hope and courage and sing with this hymn for redemption in Christ.

Prayer for Morning
Creator, you created me for fullness of life in union with you through your Son. Grant me perseverance to keep striving for life with you and an open heart to recognize all the ways you share your love with me. God of Love, bring me closer to you today.

Ponder Today
What does my life look like through God’s eyes? What are his desires for me?

Prayer for Evening
Creator, you continue to remake the world, moment by moment, as you establish your kingdom here on earth. Help me see your creative work in my life and respond with gratitude. God of Love, may your kingdom come.

Wednesday, December 17
Third Week of Advent

O come, divine Messiah; the world in silence waits the day when hope shall sing its triumph and sadness flee away.

What does it sound like for hope to “sing its triumph”? How is the world
waiting in silence? And what does it mean that both images come alive for
us in music that is filling our ears and hearts?

Our experience of the world is not very quiet. Even when we strip away the noises we layer over our lives, we are surrounded by constant sounds vying for our attention. But the kind of silence we’re singing about is more like stillness. There is a space in our center that is quiet stillness if we can peel back the layers of distraction to make room for it. Advent is a good time to practice stepping into that space, even when our world is noisy, because that is where we meet our divine Messiah.

Prayer for Morning
Divine Messiah, you came to earth to dispel the night with the dawn of
grace. Help me empty myself to make room for you, and let your light
and peace sing their triumph in my heart. Jesus, I wait for you in stillness.

Ponder Today
In the midst of all this day will bring, when can I step into stillness?

Prayer for Evening
Divine Messiah, you are the fulfillment of my longing, but I too easily fill
this desire with lesser goods. Help me to set aside the things that crowd
out your silent, waiting presence, for you long for me too. Jesus, show me
your face.

Tuesday, December 16
Third Week of Advent

By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

The peaks and valleys of the melody we’ve been praying with this week mirror the movements in the prayerful words. The music feels like ascending
and descending flights of steps. We pray for a long-expected gracious king
to bring us freedom and rest. And we pray for the reign of this Savior to
lift us up: “By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone . . . raise
us to thy glorious throne.”

This is why God came among us as one of us: to let us share in the
divine life of the Trinity. This transformation can only happen when we let Christ “rule in our hearts.” Entrusting ourselves to a savior means shaping our lives according to his life. This obedience looks confining to the world, but we know it leads us to freedom because it makes us into the people we were created to be: God’s own children, destined for heaven.

Prayer for Morning
Holy Spirit, you are the breath of the Creator within us, bringing us life.
Breathe in me and through me; sustain me in your communion with the
Father and the Son. Spirit of glory, raise me up.

Ponder Today
What part of my daily experience do I keep to myself, and how can I invite
Jesus to rule there?

Prayer for Evening
Holy Spirit, restore in me the image of our Creator. Help me to conform
my life to Jesus so I can share more fully in his divine life. Spirit of glory,
lead me to freedom.

Monday, December 16
Third Week of Advent

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. For an Advent song, there is a startling lack of a manger scene or Nativity story—no angels or shepherds in this song we continue praying with today. This is a hymn about longing for Christ to come again in justice and glory, and that names us part of a people who have long awaited this Savior.

We experience injustice everywhere, in our own relationships and among the nations. Yet we wait for Christ to come and make all things—not just us—right and whole. This is awaiting that builds our hope, deepens our resolve, and shores up the resilience we need to work for the kingdom of God. The watchful longing we practice throughout Advent allows us to find joy and light where the world sees only darkness because we know the Lord is near.

Prayer for Morning
God our Creator, you made me with a heart to search and know you, and
you do not refuse to answer my longing for you. Grow my desire for the
gifts you have to give me. God of hope, send your Son into my life.

Ponder Today
What is competing with my desire for the Lord today?

Prayer for Evening
God our Creator, you made me for joy. Incline my heart toward your grace
so that I can look for your coming to me with confidence and hope. God
of hope, center me in your love.

Sunday, December 14
Third Week of Advent
Joy

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

In 1744, Charles Wesley was preaching the Gospel throughout England.
Between his engagements, he passed children in great need—orphans
doing what they had to do to survive on the streets or in menial labor. It’s
not hard to picture how they looked at Charles as he exited churches full of
well-dressed Christians. The awkward disharmony of preaching the Good
News and witnessing such poverty all around him sparked a longing in
Charles to see this upside-down world overturned, and he was inspired to
write the hymn we pray with today, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, we sing in the
second verse. In the hungry eyes looking at him, Charles saw the face of
Christ, who was also born into a poor family seeking shelter—a child who
was also a king. We join him to pray for our long-expected Lord to come
to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, you are our strength and consolation, the joy of every longing heart. Help me to recognize you in your coming to me today, especially as you are present with those who suffer. Holy One, deliver me from evil.

Ponder Today
What conflict and disharmony do I notice in my corner of the world?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, you are the hope of all the earth and the desire of every nation. Only
you can release me from fear and sin. Meet me in my longing for you and
free me. Holy One, I find my rest in you.

Saturday, December 13
Second Week of Advent

Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace.

Just before we receive Communion at Mass, we look upon the Lamb of
God, held high for us at the altar, and we ask the Lamb, Christ our Lord,
to grant us peace.

Together, by this prayer, we say aloud that we lack peace—that we
need it, that something in us is restless and unwhole and broken. We say
those words because we know that we’ve tried to find peace elsewhere
and failed. And we can’t fabricate peace for ourselves—we’ve tried that
as well. We find peace only in the one who came to reveal God’s love for
us, who shows us this way of love, who gives us this love, and who is love
itself—through him, with him, and in him. Only in Christ do we, and our
broken world, find peace.

Prayer for Morning
Lord Jesus, you know the needs of every human heart. Guide me with your truth, so that in conforming my life to yours I may find peace and purpose. Lamb of God, show me your way; teach me to live in your peace.

Ponder Today
What consistently disturbs my peace, and how can I turn it over to God?

Prayer for Evening
Lord Jesus, you are our only source of peace. Help me let go of the things I
cling to in search of this peace. Lamb of God, have mercy on me.

Friday, December 12
Second Week of Advent

Dona nobis pacem, pacem.
Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace, peace. Grant us peace.

This song carries us along with one simple phrase—“grant us peace,” per-
haps one of the most elemental prayers we hold in common. Because of this simplicity and the yearning flow of the melody, it’s been used in many contexts—both sacred and secular. The cast of the hit television series M*A*S*H famously sang it to close out the show’s 1978 Christmas episode. And many of those who gathered to commemorate the beginning of the end of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 joined in singing it. Traditionally attributed to Mozart, no one really knows where this hymn came from. It has endured because it works –  it gathers hearts and unites us in prayer. Singing in rounds, we join people from around the world and across centuries who also long for peace.

Prayer for Morning
God of Peace, you created each of us in your image, yet we damage that
inherent dignity with war and conflict. So many suffer from the pain we
inflict upon each other. God of Love, help me treat justly and with love all
whom I meet this day.

Ponder Today
How can I learn more about those who suffer because of war, and how can
I support them with prayer, advocacy, or material aid?

Prayer for Evening
God of Peace, your love unites all humanity. Stir peace within all hearts,
and grant us this night a peaceful rest.

Thursday, December 11
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Desde el cielo, una hermosa mañana,
La Guadalupana, bajó al Tepeyac.
From heaven on a beautiful morning,
the Guadalupan Lady came down to Tepeyac.

In 1532, on Tepeyac Hill in northern Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe
approached Juan Diego with flowers and music, symbols of heaven in his culture. She dressed like him and spoke to him in Nahuatl, his first language. Our Lady came to Juan Diego in the same way Jesus comes to us—by moving toward us first, seeking us out in our ordinary experience. This is what love is: stepping beyond oneself to encounter and embrace another.

For today’s feast, we pray with a festive hymn that retells the story
of Juan Diego and Our Lady. In the retelling, we remember that she also
comes to us right where we are.

Prayer for Morning
Mary, our Mother, you came to invigorate faith in your Son here in the
Americas. Give me courage and use me as your messenger.

Ponder Today
How can I follow Mary’s model of encounter today by noticing a detail
or preference from someone and taking an active interest in their story?

Prayer for Evening
Mother Mary, you protect and hold us under your mantle. Help me to trust
in your care for me—that you are ready to receive me as I am and will bring
my concerns and worries to your son. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for me.

Wednesday, December 10
Second Week of Advent

The King shall come when morning dawns, and light and beauty brings; “Hail, Christ the Lord!” Thy people pray, come quickly, King of kings!

To proclaim that Christ is our king says something about him and about
us. We wait for the coming of the King of kings as part of a community
seeking to live in God’s ways.

This song proclaims our confidence that the Lord will come and will triumph over our lives as the sun conquers the darkness of night. Our confident waiting makes us distinctive as a people: we know the folly of seeking fulfillment in the things of this world, and we long to find our fulfillment in Christ. Advent is a time for us to go about the work of preparing a way for the Lord to conquer us.

Prayer for Morning
Lord Jesus Christ, you came to establish your reign among us, a reign that brings us light and beauty. Transform my desires so that I can let go of the things that distract and impede your way in me. Christ our king, conquer my heart.

Ponder Today
In what ways—even if they are small—will God’s kingdom break into my
experience today?

Prayer for Evening
Lord Jesus Christ, you are always calling us to a deeper union with you.
Grant me the courage and honesty to see how I settle for less. Help me to
follow you to the Father’s love. Christ our king, deepen my desire for you.