Third
Week of Advent
The
Third Sunday of Advent
We again light the
candles of hope
and love.
Today we add the PINK
(ROSE)
candle of joy.
Prophecy has been fulfilled. The
long-awaited Messiah has come. Joy is
the mood of all earnest seekers.
Advent
3 Sunday
Rejoice! Here is your
God! As the feast of Christmas
draws closer, we are reminded that the
Lord is with us even now. Jesus came to
give sight to the blind and life to the
dead. Christ's reign is among us through
our deed of love and generosity. Let us
not grow weary, but steady our hearts
and rejoice, for the Lord is close at
hand!
Phil. 4:4-7
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall
say it again: rejoice!
4:5 Your kindness should be known to
all. The Lord is near.
4:6 Have no anxiety at all, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, make your requests known
to God.
4:7 Then the peace of God that surpasses
all understanding will guard your hearts
and
minds in Christ Jesus.
Prayer:
Jesus, you are the light of the world.
May your light shine brightly so we can
see you
everywhere. Help us to spread your light
and joy by giving freely and happily to
all we meet.
Luke 1:46-47
1:46 And Mary said: "My soul
proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
1:47 my spirit rejoices in God my
savior.
Carol: "Joy
to the World."
Advent
3 Monday
As we move closer and
closer to the day we are awaiting we
pray:
Hasten, we ask you, O Lord come soon:
and grant us the help of Thy heavenly
power, so that they who trust in Your
goodness may be relieved by the
consolations of Your coming.
Isa. 7:10-15
7:10 Again the LORD
spoke to Ahaz:
7:11 Ask for a sign from the LORD, your
God; let it be deep as the nether world,
or high as the sky!
7:12 But Ahaz answered, "I will not
ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
7:13 Then he said: Listen, O house of
David! Is it not enough for you to weary
men, must you
also weary my God?
7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will
give you this sign: the virgin shall be
with child, and bear a son, and shall
name him Immanuel.
7:15 He shall be living on curds and
honey by the time he learns to reject
the bad and choose the good.
The message of this reading is that
God's plan will not be thwarted, even if
startling divine
intervention is necessary. It is a
message of hope for us to see that God's
loving plan cannot ultimately be
thwarted, even by the wicked and
powerful.
Ps. 25:1-2
25:1 Of David. I wait for you, O
LORD;
I lift up my soul to my God.
25:2 In you I trust; do not let me be
disgraced; do not let my enemies gloat
over me.
Advent
3 Tuesday
PATIENCE
In this reading of James, we see a
reminder of the "end times, which
is one of the themes of
the Advent Season. We do not know whne
the Lord is coming, but that is not
cause either for
impatience of complacency. The point of
this reading is "patience".
There is a warning here
too: Do not complain (grumble). Let us
not complain against one another. Rather
remember our own shortcomings.
James 5:7-10
5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,
until the coming of the Lord. See how
the farmer waits for the precious fruit
of the earth, being patient with it
until it receives the early and the late
rains.
5:8 You too must be patient. Make your
hearts firm, because the coming of the
Lord is at
hand.
5:9 Do not complain, brothers, about one
another, that you may not be judged.
Behold, the Judge is standing before the
gates.
5:10 Take as an example of hardship and
patience, brothers, the prophets who
spoke in the name of the Lord.
Let us pray, Lord God, may we, your
people, who look forward to the birthday
of Christ experience the joy of
salvation and celebrate that feast with
love and thanksgiving.
72:3 That the mountains may yield their
bounty for the people, and the hills
great abundance.
Advent
3 Wednesday
Be
a Servant
The first part of the
reading from Isaiah is the passage that
Jesus applied to himself in the
synagogue of Nazareth in Luke's gospel.
It is similar in style to four passages
in Isaiah that
are known as the Songs of the Suffering
Servant; thus it is sometimes called the
fifth song of the servant. The figure of
the servant is important to us because
Jesus has long been seen by Christians
(and apparently Jesus saw himself) as
fulfilling that role. The mission of the
servant described here is certainly good
news for the lowly , the brokenhearted
and the
prisoners. This reading is good news for
the Lord speaks both of the wonders that
God has
already done and the wonders that are
promised for the future -- an
appropriate Advent message.
Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11
61:1 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon
me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me to bring glad tidings to
the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To
proclaim liberty to the captives and
release to the prisoners,
61:2 To announce a year of favor from
the LORD and a day of vindication by our
God,
to comfort all who mourn;
61:10 I rejoice heartily in the
LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul; For he
has clothed me with a robe of salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
61:11 As the earth brings forth its
plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
So will the Lord GOD make justice and
praise spring up before all the
nations.
Let us pray, Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, ever faithful to your promises
and ever close to
your Church: the earth rejoices in hope
of the Savior's coming and looks forward
with longing
to his return at the end of time.
Prepare our hearts and remove the
sadness that hinders us
from feeling the joy and hope which his
presence will bestow.
Ps.72:18 Blessed be the LORD, the
God of Israel, who alone does wonderful
deeds.
Advent
3 Thursday
Be a
Witness
The reading is from the
Gospel of John. The beginning will be
recognized by some from
pre-Vatican II as the "last
Gospel" of the Mass. The verses
which follow establish the role of
John the Baptist as a witness to Jesus
and insist that he is not the light but
one who testifies to the light. John is
clearly important --he was sent by God--
but his is important precisely as a
witness. John insists that he is neither
the Messiah, nor Elijah nor "the
prophet". The Jews expected a
Messiah, an anointed servant of God.
They also expected Elijah to return
before the "Day of the Lord",
a day of judgment.
John 1:6-8,19-28
1:6 A man named John was sent from God.
1:7 He came for testimony, to testify to
the light, so that all might believe
through him.
1:8 He was not the light, but came to
testify to the light.
1:19 And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent
priests and
Levites (to him) to ask him, "Who
are you?"
1:20 he admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, "I am not the
Messiah."
1:21 So they asked him, "What are
you then? Are you Elijah?" * And he
said, "I am not."
"Are
you the Prophet?" He answered,
"No."
1:22 So they said to him, "Who are
you, so we can give an answer to those
who sent us? What do you have to say for
yourself?"
1:23 He said: "I am 'the voice of
one crying out in the desert, "Make
straight the way of the Lord,"' as
Isaiah the prophet said."
1:24 Some Pharisees were also sent.
1:25 They asked him, "Why then do
you baptize if you are not the Messiah
or Elijah or the Prophet?"
1:26 John answered them, "I baptize
with water; but there is one among you
whom you do not recognize,
1:27 the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to
untie."
1:28 This happened in Bethany across the
Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Let us pray, Father in heaven, the day
draws near when the glory of your Son
will make radiant the night of the
waiting world. May the lure of greed not
impede us from the joy which moves the
hearts of those who seek him. May the
darkness not blind us to the vision of
wisdom which fills the minds of those
who find him.
Ps. 71:16 I will speak of the mighty
works of the Lord; O GOD, I will tell of
your singular justice.
Advent
3 Friday
Prepare
the Way
The reading from the
Gospel of Matthew says a great deal
about Advent: that we are to be
like
John and prepare the way for the coming
of Jesus with determination and hope. We
also can expect some unpleasant
consequences of being truly
Christian--not imprisonment, perhaps,
but something less than immediate and
universal acceptance in society. But
Jesus' praise of John and his
confirmation of the signs of the
approaching kingdom of God give us
the
strength to take John as our model in
suffering hardships. There is elation in
Jesus' voice as
He points out that Isaiah's predictions
are coming true.
Matthew 11:2-11
11:2 When John heard in prison of the
works of the Messiah, he sent his
disciples to him 11:3 with this
question, "Are you the one who is
to come, or should we look for
another?"
11:4 Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and
see: 11:5 the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news
proclaimed to them.
11:6 And blessed is the one who takes no
offense at me."
11:7 As they were going off, Jesus began
to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you
go out to the desert to see? A reed
swayed by the wind?
11:8 Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those
who wear fine clothing are in royal
palaces.
11:9 Then why did you go out? To see a
prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than
a prophet.
11:10 This is the one about whom it is
written:
'Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead
of you; he will prepare your way before
you.'
11:11 Amen, I say to you, among those
born of women there has been none
greater than
John the Baptist; yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Let us pray, When He humbled himself to
come among us as a man, he fulfilled the
plan you formed long ago and opened for
us the way to salvation. Now we watch
for the day, hoping
that the salvation promised us will be
ours when Christ our Lord will come in
His glory.
Ps.24:1 A psalm of David.
The earth is the LORD'S and all it
holds,
the world and those who live there.
Advent
3 Saturday
Spiritual
Joy
In Luke's Gospel we
again have the story of John the Baptist
as he has come before the
Savior. We are invited to spiritual joy,
the the Lord is near. As in Paul to
Philippians: Rejoice
in the Lord always: again I say,
rejoice. Let your moderation be known to
all men: for the Lord is near. Have no
anxiety, but in everything, by prayer
let your petitions be made known to God.
And may the peace of God which surpasses
all understanding guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
Luke 3:1-6
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate
was governor of
Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of
Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch
of the region of
Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias
was tetrarch of Abilene,
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas
and Caiaphas, the word of God came to
John the
son of Zechariah in the desert.
3:3 He went throughout (the) whole
region of the Jordan, proclaiming a
baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins,
3:4 as it is written in the book of the
words of the
prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one crying out in the
desert:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
3:5 Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be
made low.
The winding roads shall be made
straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
3:6 and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God.'"
Let us pray, We believe that the Son of
God once came to us; we look for him to
come again.
May His coming bring us the light of His
holiness and free us with His blessings.
Ps.33:12 Happy the nation whose God is
the LORD,
the people chosen as his very own.