Third week of Advent : Gaudete Week

The week begins with "Gaudete" Sunday. Gaudete means "Rejoice" in Latin. It comes from the first word of the Entrance antiphon on Sunday.

The spirit of joy that begins this week comes from the words of Paul, "The Lord is near."
This joyful spirit is marked by the third candle of our Advent wreath, which is rose colored, and the rose colored vestments often used at the Eucharist.
The second part of Advent begins on December 17th each year - this year, in 2008, it is Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent. For the last eight days before Christmas we enter into the story of how Jesus' life began. These stories are filled with hints of what his life will mean for us. Faith and generosity overcome impossibility. Poverty and persecution reveal glory.
We prepare this week by feeling the joy. We move through this week feeling a part of the waiting world that rejoices because our longing has prepared us to believe the reign of God is close at hand. And so we consciously ask:
Prepare our hearts
and remove the sadness
that hinders us from feeling
the joy and hope
which his presence
will bestow.
Each morning this week, in that brief moment we are becoming accustomed to, we want to light a third inner candle. Three candles, going from expectation, to longing, to joy. They represent our inner preparation, or inner perspective. In this world of "conflict and division," "greed and lust for power," we begin each day this week with a sense of liberating joy.

Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say,
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my savior."
Each day this week, we will continue to go through our everyday life, but we will experience the difference our faith can bring to it. We are confident that the grace we ask for will be given us. We will encounter sin - in our own hearts and in our experience of the sin of the world. We can pause in those moments, and feel the joy of the words,
"You are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people
from their sins." Mt 1:21
We may experience the Light shining into dark places of our lives and showing us patterns of sinfulness, and inviting us to experience God's mercy and healing. Perhaps we wish to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconcilation this week. We may want to make gestures of reconcilation with a loved one, relative, friend or associate. With more light and joy, it is easier to say, "I'm sorry; let's begin again."
Each night this week we want to pause in gratitude.

Whatever the day has brought, no matter how busy it has been, we can stop, before we fall asleep, to give thanks for a little more light, a little more freedom to walk by that light, in joy.
Our celebration of the coming of our Savior in history, is opening us up to experience his coming to us this year, and preparing us to await his coming in Glory.

God bless and be with all of you !

Daily Advent Prayer ~ Thursday ~

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

Almighty Father,
give us the joy of Your love
to prepare the way for Christ our Lord.
Help us to serve You and one another.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Daily Meditation:

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.

So often we are "afflicted and needy" and we seem to "seek water in vain."
Today we listen to a refreshing promise of how much our Lord desires to refresh us.
Each of us can fill in what we need the most and ask, with trust, for our Lord to come and save us.

I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you." Isaiah 41

Whoever has ears ought to hear. Matthew 11

Intercessions:
Let us pray to God our Father who sent his Son to save
mankind:
Show us your mercy, Lord.

Father most merciful, we confess our faith in your Christ
with our words,
- keep us from denying him in our actions.

You have sent your Son to rescue us,
- remove every sorrow from the face of the earth and
from our country.

Our land looks forward with delight to the approach of
your Son,
- let it experience the fullness of your joy.

Through your mercy makes us live holy and chaste lives in
this world,
- eagerly awaiting the blessed hope and coming of Christ
in glory.

Closing Prayer:
Lord, like a loving parent,
you offer me your comforting hand
and tell me not to be afraid.

Help me to wait for your coming with patience
and to listen to what you ask of me.

I want so much to be one of "your people"
and to live my life in you.

Thank you for the way you bless my life.
Thank you for listening to my prayers
and for planting deep in my heart
the knowlege that with you,
nothing is impossible.
Amen

Preparing our Hearts and asking for the Grace of Christmas

Here we are in the middle of the second week of Advent .

Each morning this week, if even for that brief moment at the side of our beds, we should try to light a second inner candle. We should try to let it represent "a bit more hope." Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say,
"Lord, I place my trust in you."
Each day this week, as we encounter times that are rushed, even crazy, we can take that deep breath, and make that profound prayer. Each time we face some darkness, some experience of "parched land" or desert, some place where we feel "defeated" or "trapped," we hear the words, "Our God will come to save us!"
The grace we desire for this week is to be able to hear the promise and to invite our God to come into those real places of our lives that dearly need God's coming. We want to be able to say:
"Lord, I place my trust in your promise. Please, Lord, rouse your power and come into this place in my life, this relationship, into this deep self-defeating pattern. Please come here and save me."
Each night this week we can look back over the day and give thanks for the moments of deep breath, that opened a space for more trust and confidence in God's fidelity to us. No matter how difficult the challenges we are facing - from the growing realization of our personal sinfulness, to any experience of emptiness or powerlessness, even in the face of death itself - we can give thanks for the two candles that faithfully push back the darkness. And, we can give thanks for the graces given us to believe that "Our God will come to save us" because we were given the courageous faith to desire and ask boldly.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people.
We await your coming. Come, O Lord.