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Daily Advent Prayer Experiences for 2016 by DailyGraces.net

December 12, 2016 – Invitation

Published on December 11, 2016December 9, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

Pope Francis continues to encourage and challenge Christians everywhere to announce the Good and joyful News of Jesus Christ with their daily lives. There is no greater joy to be found than in the joy of the Resurrection. This truly is the key to understanding how a person can act with joy even in the midst of sorrow or suffering.

Advent is a wonderful time to consider how the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ should fundamentally change our outlook on life. What would be different about you if Jesus had not been born? What would be different in our world if Jesus had not died and then rose from the dead? Why is it important to have a relationship with Jesus? How does this relationship affect my actions and reactions? These are some big questions that we can spend a lifetime reflecting on.

What is incredible about Pope Francis is how he breaks down these big questions and hones in on how we can concretely start to understand them.For Pope Francis, and for our 3 minute reflection today, our relationship with Jesus hinges on an invitation. The following is from the opening passages of the Joy of the Gospel apostolic exhortation:

I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day (3).

Advent brings us many opportunities for considering inviting Jesus into our lives. Even though there wasn’t much room in Bethlehem, someone invited Mary and Joseph and by extension, Jesus, to use their stable. The shepherds received an invitation from the angels to go find Jesus. The three kings or wise men understood the star to be an invitation to find a new king.

Again, today take your 3 minutes to intentionally open yourself to Jesus. Invite Him into your heart. Ask Him how your day should be shaped now that He is intimately a part of it.

***What do you have hanging on your front door? Is it time to swap out the decor for something more joyful? Please feel free to share your experience, thoughts and offer support to one another in the comments, on Twitter with the #DailyGraces or on the Facebook page.

December 11, 2016 – Active Anticipation

Published on December 10, 2016December 7, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

Thus far we have looked in-depth into 2 Advent themes that, when broken down into manageable chunks, can become useful for daily prayer and applicable to daily life. Advent teaches us to be a people of preparation. We await the coming of Jesus at the end of time. At the same time, by daily communicating with God, our prayer transforms us. We become aware of the gap between our will and God’s Will and as our prayer matures we begin to desire these two wills to become one. Mary’s fiat gives us a concrete and profound example of what this union looks like.

A few days ago, I talked about how Mary’s fiat compels her to action. This movement, from communion to action, is the focus of this week. One of the main themes of Advent is a feeling of anticipation. We as a people of faith are anticipating the coming of Jesus, both as an infant and at the end of time. We read about the Jewish people as they waited for the Messiah to come. Consider the following passage from today’s First Reading from the book of Isaiah:

Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing (Isaiah 35:4b-6a)

We will know when God is coming by His actions. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will be healed and the mute will be able to speak.

Now let’s look at the Gospel. John the Baptist has sent some followers to Jesus to ask Him if He is the awaited one or if they are still anticipating the coming of God. Jesus’ response should ring a bell:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see:
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 (Matthew 11:4-6).

John’s followers were given the answer to their question not in words but in actions. They knew the Messiah by His fulfillment of the promises of God, by His actions.

By now we should be settled into our 3 minutes of prayer each day. It helps us stay prepared, maintain good prayer habits and gives us the opportunity to talk to God about any number of things while we grow our relationship with Him. This week, I would like to see how that prayer, this growing relationship, serves as the springboard for our actions. Our relationship with God is our foundation. How we choose to live it out is the house or actions that stand upon it.

Today, let’s consider our proverbial “front door.” This is the first thing that people encounter when they come to your home. I would liken the front door to our overall attitude and disposition. Are we a welcoming, joyful person? Are we reserved or guarded? Do we greet others even if they are strangers or do we keep to ourselves? Do we let a previous poor experience color the way we view the one we are in and in what way?

No matter what is going on in our lives, there is one feature that, according to Pope Francis, all Christians must endeavor to hang on their “front door.” This is joy. Today, spend your 3 minutes after your intentional Sign of the Cross reading these words by our pope and sincerely ask yourself if joy is what you display on your “front door.”

“The Christian identity card is joy, the Gospel’s joy, the joy of having been chosen by Jesus, saved by Jesus, regenerated by Jesus; the joy of that hope that Jesus is waiting for us, the joy that – even with the crosses and sufferings we bear in this life – is expressed in another way, which is peace in the certainty that Jesus accompanies us, is with us. ” (http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/05/23/pope_francis_christians_live_god%E2%80%99s_love_with_joy/1231777)

***Have you experienced God fulfilling a promise? Perhaps it came as an answer to prayer and perseverance? How does seeing the way God fulfilled His promises in the Bible give you hope for your life? Please feel free to share your experience, thoughts and offer support to one another in the comments, on Twitter with the #DailyGraces or on the Facebook page.

December 10, 2016 – Let us see Your face

Published on December 9, 2016December 4, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

I love the Psalm refrain for today: Lord make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved. This beautifully sums up most of what we have been talking about this week, namely looking at Mary to teach us how to unite our will with God’s Will.

Lord make us turn to you: The psalmist is asking God to help us reorient our lives, our wills, to God’s design and purpose for us. We are asking God to clear the path and show us the way to submitting our broken wills to His perfect Will. What better guide than Mary?

Let us see your face: We are asking God to reveal His Will to us. How does God reveal His Will? Sometimes we see it through people around us, sometimes through certain experiences or moments of clarity. But to see God’s face, to come that close to God, there is something we absolutely have to do. We have to read the Bible, which we believe is the inspired Word of God. We have God’s Words, His promises, His desires for humanity and how we are to live with one another all written down for us in a living text that is as relevant today as the day Jesus read from it in the synagogue. If we truly wish to see the face of God and to know His Will we must read His Words.

We shall be saved: Here we bring in again the blessing of Elizabeth: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Key in on the phrase “spoken to you.” You might think, well God doesn’t speak to us today like He did back then. Friends, God does. Remember, the Scriptures are not dead words on a page but are God’s inspired and creative Words. If we open ourselves to God in Scripture we will find Him in our hearts. We will come to know God’s Will and grow in our union with Him.

St. Augustine explains how during the time of the prophets God made promises to His people. St. John the Baptist was the last prophet. The coming of Christ signaled the beginning of the fulfillment of the promises God had made. We are still in this time of fulfillment, but during Advent we take time to reflect on the original promises God made as we prepare for Jesus to come. For today, spend some time reflecting on the following passages from St. Augustine regarding God’s promises and their fulfillment.

He [God] promised us eternal salvation and an unending life of blessedness with the angels, and an imperishable inheritance, the joy of seeing his face, a dwelling-place with him in heaven, and the fear of death removed from us through the resurrection. This is, if you like, his ultimate promise. We look forward to it, and when we reach it, we will want nothing more. But as to how this final end is to be reached, he has also told us in promises and prophecies…

Even so, it was not enough for God to send his Son to point out the way – he made his Son the way itself, so that we can go on our journey guided by him as he walks along his own way (http://www.catholic.org/advent/story.php?id=30978).

***Are you finding the experience of focusing on what you are waiting for providing opportunities for growth? Is your time spent in prayer over these situations bearing fruit in your life as you unite your will more closely to God’s? Please feel free to share your experience, thoughts and offer support to one another in the comments, on Twitter with the #DailyGraces or on the Facebook page.