Monday Morning Offering: 12/6

         Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

Still nearly three weeks 'til Christmas, Lord,

but everywhere you look

    halls are decked, gifts bought, bows tied,

    trees decorated, bells jingled,
    cards sent and lights lit…

Brass quintets, harking to herald angels,

muted Advent’s hope and spirit long before 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel 

was heard at mass on Sundays...

 

If not at the mall, if not in the stores,
if not on the streets, if not online
- then at least in my heart, Lord:

    Let this be a season

    when I pause and wonder

    at Mary’s child, 

    born to save so many, so many years ago...

 

    Let this be a season 

    when I wait for you who've come already,

    come and claimed a place,
    your home, within my heart...

 

    Let this be a season 

    when in faith I wait, 

    watching for your coming once again

    when all my days are done

    and the waiting is no more...

 

Until then, Lord…

As I do my Christmas shopping, 

help me buy whatever's needed

- not for those who give to me -

but for those who have so little,

who are poor as once were you, 

in a stable, in a feed box,

in the streets of Bethlehem…

Help me decorate my days

with garlands of real kindness:

let my good deeds be as ornaments 

sparkling on the branches 

of my friends' and neighbors’ lives…

Let my eyes shine bright as candles 

in the windows of my soul,

with light to welcome all

into my home and to my heart...

 

Make my greetings truly joyful

not just in Christmas cards

but in all the words I speak to those

to whom I’ve peace to offer - and to make…

Prepare me

to celebrate your birthday, Lord,

your holy advent, 

your coming on that Christmas night

so very long ago…

Prepare me

for when you come again:

the advent of your reign of peace 

upon my heart, upon the world...

I offer you my Advent heart, Lord:

may its prayer sustain me all day long

and through the weeks ahead

until with all the world we sing again

glad tidings of your birth!

Amen.

 

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