Tuesday, December 9
Second Week of Advent

The King shall come when morning dawns and light triumphant breaks, when beauty gilds the eastern hills and life to joy awakes.

John the Baptist speaks to us in this second week of Advent, calling us
to prepare the way for Christ’s coming. It’s time to remove the obstacles
within our hearts and in our life circumstances that stand in the way of
Jesus coming to us. He is always reaching for us, ready to conquer whatever diminishes us. John urges us to receive Jesus as a king—to clear space for him right now so that Christ reigns at the center of our lives.

Our hymn for today invites us to stand with others watching for our
king to come, people who know that “light triumphant breaks” upon us
in the person of Jesus. By setting aside our egos and placing him at the
center, “life to joy awakes.”

Prayer for Morning
Lord of Light, you reveal to us the fullness of God’s love, which is as beautiful and inevitable as the dawn. Break over me in the same way the sun gilds the landscape in these long winter mornings. Help me prepare for your coming so I can greet you with joy. Jesus our king, triumph in me today.

Ponder Today
How can I prepare a way and straighten a path for the Lord today?

Prayer for Evening
Lord of Light, your love and truth illuminate our lives. Prepare your way
in my heart—build in me the desire to receive you so that my life reflects
your light. Jesus our king, make straight my path.

Monday, December 8
Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Ave Maria or Hail Mary is one of the most Catholic expressions we have. It
was first uttered by the angel Gabriel when he greeted Mary to announce
the news that she was to bear Jesus. But we take on his greeting ourselves
and also “hail” her, laud her, and raise her up. She is one of us, but she has
been elevated as Mother of God, an elevation that began the moment she
was conceived in her own mother’s womb. With today’s feast, we celebrate
this moment of God’s abundant grace.
God gave Mary the capacity to accomplish what he asked of her, and he does the same for us. When we struggle, when we face darkness or uncertainty, God calls us to rely on him and is ever ready to give us what we need.

Prayer for Morning
Mary, you brought the Son of God into our broken world, humbly accepting this charge. Pray for me, that I might live the life God is calling me to. Blessed Mother, help me grow in faith, hope, and love.

Ponder Today
How can I rely on God today? What situation or relationship needs God’s
saving grace?

Prayer for Evening
Mary, God had a special role for you to play in the salvation of the world.
Pray for me, that I may find in the circumstances of my life right now the
role God is asking me to fill. Blessed Mother, help me to do the Father’s will.

Sunday, December 7
Second Week of Advent
Peace

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

For all the dramatic movements in this music, the words to the hymn “Ave Maria” simply repeat the lines of the well-known Hail Mary prayer. The melody soars with a sense of longing that builds and recedes—it feels full, like breathing deeply in front of a grand landscape. It makes us want to linger, as if there is too much to relish here. If we can slow down enough to let this hymn echo within us, we can touch a bit of the fullness that marked Mary’s life. God filled her with grace so that she would be ready to bear Jesus to the world, and wants to fill us with grace as well.

Prayer for Morning
Mary, you were practiced at receiving gifts from God. Help me follow your example: to let go of fear and create room where Jesus can dwell within me. Mother Mary, help me follow your receptive faithfulness.

Ponder Today
When will I encounter moments of fullness today—especially in the ordinary—and how can I lift my heart to God in response?

Prayer for Evening
Holy Mary, your life was built around prayer. You knew how to hear and respond to God’s voice, how to find peace in his will for your life. Pray for me, that I may cultivate that same intimacy with God. Mother Mary, help me follow your steady faithfulness.

Saturday, December 6
First Week of Advent

Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace.

We know division all too well—we are very good at drawing lines between
“them” and “us.” We’re so good at division that we live with it
subconsciously; we’ve built it into our cities and smartphones. Sometimes the divisions we create make possible violence and war; sometimes they make possible the stubborn ignorance of our neighbors living radically different lives than we do. As much as we long for peace, it will always elude us if we try to establish it on merely human terms. There is only one source of enduring unity: our shared dignity as children of God—a dignity that Jesus himself entered into. If we can find each other in him, then we will know peace.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, our brother, you came to share our humanity so we could share
in your divinity. Open my heart to see that you are inviting everyone I
encounter today into communion with you and our heavenly Father. King
of Peace, bind our hearts as one.

Ponder Today
Where will I experience division today? How can I let Jesus help me over-
come it?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, our Savior, you came to bring peace. Heal the divisions that cause so
much suffering in the world, and heal the division I experience in my own
heart. King of nations, make us whole.

Friday, December 5
First Week of Advent

O come, O Key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home.

A key opens a locked door that we can’t open on our own. We know Jesus
opens for us the gates of heaven, but he doesn’t just appear as a savior at
the end of our story—he’s acting in our lives to save us now. As Key of
David, Jesus is the most crucial key to our existence as God’s beloved sons
and daughters. He is the key that closes doors on sin and death and opens doors that lead us to freedom and new life. He’s ready to do that for each of us today. Jesus explains he was sent “to proclaim liberty to captives…and let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18). This is not only what he does; it’s who he is—he is the Key who unlocks the power sin is holding over us. He has the power to open any door in our lives—there’s nowhere he cannot go.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, you are the key of our salvation and you open the shackles that bind
us. Come into my life today, especially to the rooms within that I don’t
know how to open to you. Key of David, bring me into freedom.

Ponder Today
How will Jesus approach me today? What doors of my life will he knock
on, and how can I welcome him?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, Emmanuel, your love opens new horizons for us, and you lead us
into newness of life. Help me to step more deeply into your intimacy with
the Father. Key of David, let me rest in you.

Thursday, December 4
First Week of Advent

O come, O Bright and Morning Star.

“O come, O Bright and Morning Star,” we sing. Dispel the shadows of the
night and turn our darkness into light. What does it mean to turn to Christ
as our Morning Star—as the source of our light and heat and life itself?
Gloom covers us when we have no hope for our futures, when we
dread night’s shadows. Every reminder of our mortality—whether it’s
watching a loved one suffer illness or our own aching back or failing eye-
sight—raises the specter of eventual death. So we avoid it—we scramble
back into the shadows where we don’t have to face it or think about it. But
God came to walk us through that darkness into the light of eternal life. We don’t have to live in darkness—we can choose to live in the light.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, you are the Light of the World. You came to share our humanity, even
to the point of death, to reveal the Father’s radical communion with us.
Give me the courage to face the shadows in my life with the light of your love. O Morning Star, bring your warmth and heat to me today.

Ponder Today
What will remind me of my mortality today? How will I respond?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, my brother, your light shines even in my deepest anxieties. Help
me to embrace life with you as my salvation and chase away my gloom. O
Bright and Morning Star, I look for your light.

Wednesday, December 3
First Week of Advent

O come, O Wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go.

The trees of a forest communicate with one another through the fungi that
share a symbiotic relationship with their roots. Trees share nutrients and
information through this network of fungi to defend against parasites.
From the spinning galaxies to the invisible workings of the human
heart, things are ordered. Wisdom is simply the right perception of this
order—living in accord with it brings us harmony and purpose. We believe
Jesus comes to us in the form of this wisdom; with this hymn we call to
him, “O come, O Wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go.”

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, Wisdom of God, all things came to be through you and reflect your
glory. Help me to seek your truth as a guide for my life—there to find the
right way to live in your abiding presence. Wisdom of God, order my life according to your truth today.

Ponder Today
What is a belief you would stake your life on? How can that conviction
shape your day?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You open a new horizon—one that draws me beyond myself into abundant peace. Grant me the courage to follow your truth, especially when it leads me. Wisdom of God, show me your way

Tuesday, December 2
First Week of Advent

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

Look at the lyrics of this week’s hymn on page 46 and notice how this hymn
is structured around a repeated call and response. With each verse, we call
out for Jesus under a different title to come shape our lives—to ransom us
who mourn in exile, save us from depths of hell, and give us victory over the grave. We plead, dispel the shadows of the night. Each verse is a new call for help: the words create space for us to express our own particular yearnings for God. Each is met by the unchanging refrain, seemingly uttered in another voice. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you. This steady confidence is the faith carried to us by generations, those who tested life and found this hope to be honest and true. Across generations, believers have known that God is faithful and they urge us, Rejoice!

Prayer for Morning
Emmanuel, you come to bring us to our Father. Help me overcome division that weighs on my heart and form me to love as you love. Grant me
confidence in your desire to come and shape my life. Jesus, I wait with
ready joy for your coming.

Ponder Today
What signs do I expect will reveal Jesus’s presence and lead me to rejoice Today?

Prayer for Evening
Emmanuel, the gift of faith is handed on to us by generations of people
who have known, loved, and served you. Help me to trust their experience
of your love and, with them, follow you on our way to our heavenly home.
O Lord, when I call, you respond.

Monday, December 1
First Week of Advent

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

We repeat a phrase over and over in this hymn: “O come!” It might seem an odd invocation when we are preparing for a Christmas celebration of Jesus’s birth at Bethlehem so very long ago. Jesus, the Christ, has already come into our world as one of us, so what are we really praying for in this song? “O come” is a phrase that can carry our prayer today. Yes, Jesus has already come—and remains with us here and now. But this is our moment to invite him in deeper. “O come” is not a passive invitation—it is the pleading, welcoming command you give a loved one who stands outside your door. Our Advent journey is intended to stir up our desire to plead “O come, O come, Emmanuel!” and mean it because we long for him in every part of our lives.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, you know and love me better than I do. It is so easy to forget this, however, and my inattentiveness means I often do not recognize you in the ordinary things of daily life. Stir up in me a desire for greater union with you. Son of God, I open my heart, my mind, and all my senses to you.

Ponder Today
Repeat the prayer “O come, O come, Emmanuel” today, especially when- ever you run into a challenge or a stressor appears.

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, you are God’s presence within and all around me. Help me walk with you through this Advent so I may grow in your love for me and learn to love you more fully in return. Son of God, deepen my faith and love.

Sunday, November 30
First Week of Advent

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears.

Somehow stepping into this four-week season often brings a small jolt of
panic. Perhaps it’s because we are thinking about everything we need to
get done between now and December 25. The clock has officially started.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is the perfect antidote to the adrenaline spike
and often-frantic hurry of this season. The pace is slow and
deliberate—there’s no way to rush through this ancient song. It forces us
to be still for a few minutes and contemplate our own lonely exile. What keeps us captive? And why?

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, Emmanuel—your name means “God is with us.” You share our
humanity. Help me to see the ways you come to me—not in the abstract
but in the real circumstances in my life today. Open my eyes and my heart
to welcome you to the people and events that come into my life this day.

Ponder Today
Christ came to ransom us. What keeps my spirit captive? From what do
I seek ransom?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, Emmanuel, you come to me here and now. You are not waiting for
me to get my act together or to prove that I’m worthy of you. You arrive
in the midst of my mess and my to-do list and my regrets, for you want to
share life with me. Open my eyes and heart to receive your gifts, O Lord,
especially when I don’t feel ready for you.