Jeanne Kun
The Root of Jesse
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5
Nothing to add
Category Archives: Advent
God’s messengers
Henry Ossawa Tanner, American (active France), 1859 – 1937
The Annunciation, 1898
oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. Luke 1:26-27
God sends specific messengers to specific locations to specific people every day.
I met several of God’s messengers at the Salvation Army Friday. Some were tiny children crying for their mothers. Some were cranky or bossy or argumentative adults. I did my best to keep saying “yes” to bearing God’s Love into the swirl of human emotions. It took all my energy.
Some messengers were kind and efficient, unfailingly gracious and cheerful. They are a living example of saying “yes” to being Love Bearers in our world where all of us just want to love and be loved.
Wake up call
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:4
The gospel is our every day wake up call: a call to love, to help the poor, to show compassion to all people.
It’s a call to spend time in quiet prayer and meditation, to read holy scripture, to deepen our relationship with Jesus.
The gospel wakes us up to the reality of God’s presence in our world, in our lives, in our being.
Today I will trust the wake up call of the gospel and ask the Lord to bless me with knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry it out.
Watching
[Jesus said,] “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'” Mark 13:37
What am I watching for?
For an opportunity to be kind.
For an opportunity to help someone.
For an opportunity to encourage someone.
For an opportunity to feed the hungry.
For an opportunity to choose peace.
For an opportunity to speak out against violence.
For an opportunity to let go of arrogance.
For an opportunity to show respect to others.
For an opportunity to rejoice in another’s success.
For an opportunity to welcome a stranger.
For an opportunity share my gifts and talents.
For an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself.
God is with us
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Matthew 1:22-23
Whether I’m having an easy day or a hard day, God is with me. Whether I’m feeling peaceful or angry, God is with me. Whether I believe or don’t believe, God is with me.
Let go
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Matthew 11:2-3
I imagine John the Baptist had some moments of stress in prison, wondering what would happen to the work he’d begun. To know that Jesus was busy healing those who were blind, lame, deaf, lepers, or poor opened his eyes to recognize the Christ, and meant he could let go and surrender everything to Jesus.
My own worries – big and small, world-centered and self-centered – take up a lot of time and energy. Maybe this Advent I will have the courage to surrender everything to Jesus.
Finding the way
Second Sunday of Advent
It was of [John the Baptist] that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths. Matthew 3:3
John the Baptist points the way to Jesus, the Compassion of God, the Prince of Peace. How have I pointed the way to compassion and peace today? Will I make the effort to point the way to compassion and peace tomorrow?
Staying awake
By Vaikoovery (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
[Jesus said,] “Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42
Today the Lord is here. In this moment, God is with me. With each breath, I express God’s Spirit within me.
Lord, help me to stay awake and aware of your presence in and around me.
Mary Ann McSweeny 