The season of Advent for Year 2010 starting today, November 28 marks the start of the Catholic Church's Liturgical Calendar Year! Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and will end with Evening Prayer I (First Vespers) of Christmas in the evening of December 24.It's a gracious and opportune time to draw closer to Jesus and allow His Spirit of love, peace and joy from within us to shine forth in our daily living. This is the season of joyful hope and anticipation for the coming(s) of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World and Prince of Peace, whose birthday we will celebrate on December 25th.
To prepare my heart, mind and soul to receive Christ, the perfect gift of all times, I thought it best to dwell on God's Living Word, by searching for some favourite quotations from the Bible daily and jot them down here. It'll be an ongoing project throughout the duration of the Advent season, updated daily whenever possible.
1st Week of Advent - Hope
| DATE | BIBLE REF. | BIBLE TEXT |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Nov 2010 | Revelation 3:20 | Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person's side. |
| 29 Nov 2010 | John 3:16 | For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. |
| 30 Nov 2010 | Luke 1:32-33 | He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end. |
| 1 Dec 2010 | 2 Thess. 2:15-17 | Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who has given us his love and, through his grace, such ceaseless encouragement and such sure hope, encourage you and strengthen you in every good word and deed. |
| 2 Dec 2010 | John 10:9-11 | I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. |
| 3 Dec 2010 | John 15:4-5, 7 | Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you please and you will get it. |
| 4 Dec 2010 | Luke 4:17-19 | And they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. |
2nd Week of Advent - Peace
| DATE | BIBLE REF. | BIBLE TEXT |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Dec 2010 | Isaiah 9:5-6 | For a son has been born for us, a son has been given to us, and dominion has been laid on his shoulders; and this is the name he has been given, 'Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace' to extend his dominion in boundless peace, over the throne of David and over his kingdom to make it secure and sustain it in fair judgement and integrity. From this time onwards and for ever, the jealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this. |
| 6 Dec 2010 | John 14:23, 27 | Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. |
| 7 Dec 2010 | Psalms 37:3-4 | Put your trust in Yahweh and do right, make your home in the land and live secure. Make Yahweh your joy and he will give you your heart's desires. |
| 8 Dec 2010 | Philippians 4:6-7 | Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude, and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. |
| 9 Dec 2010 | Isaiah 53:4-5 | Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and we have been healed by his bruises. |
| 10 Dec 2010 | Psalms 23:1-4 | Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing. In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name. Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me. |
| 11 Dec 2010 | Luke 1:77-79 | To give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow dark as death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. |
3rd Week of Advent - Joy
| DATE | BIBLE REF. | BIBLE TEXT |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Dec 2010 | Psalms 19:8-10 | The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes. The fear of Yahweh is pure, lasting for ever; the judgements of Yahweh are true, upright, every one, more desirable than gold, even than the finest gold; his words are sweeter than honey, that drips from the comb. |
| 13 Dec 2010 | Isaiah 12:2-3 | Look, he is the God of my salvation: I shall have faith and not be afraid, for Yahweh is my strength and my song, he has been my salvation.' Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of salvation. |
| 14 Dec 2010 | Galatians 5:22-23 | On the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control; no law can touch such things as these. |
| 15 Dec 2010 | John 15:10-11 | If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. |
| 16 Dec 2010 | 1 Corinthians 10:13 | None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand. You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it. |
| 17 Dec 2010 | Psalms 30:4-5 | Make music for Yahweh, all you who are faithful to him, praise his unforgettable holiness. His anger lasts but a moment, his favour through life; In the evening come tears, but with dawn cries of joy. |
| 18 Dec 2010 | Romans 12:12-13 | Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship; keep praying regularly; share with any of God's holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable. |
4th Week of Advent - Love
| DATE | BIBLE REF. | BIBLE TEXT |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Dec 2010 | Psalms 103:8, 11-12 | Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love; As the height of heaven above earth, so strong is his faithful love for those who fear him. As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults. |
| 20 Dec 2010 | Lamentations 3:22-23 | Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted; every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness! |
| 21 Dec 2010 | Mark 12:29-31 | Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.' |
| 22 Dec 2010 | Ephesians 3:16-19 | In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God. |
| 23 Dec 2010 | 1 John 3:18, 23-24 | Children, our love must be not just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine. His commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should love one another as he commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us. |
| 24 Dec 2010 | 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 | Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. |
Source for Bible Text: New Jerusalem Bible @ Catholic Online
COME LORD JESUS, COME...!!
Father, all-powerful God
your eternal Word took flesh on our earth
when the Virgin Mary placed her life
at the service of your plan.
Lift our minds in watchful hope
to hear the voice which announces His glory
and open our minds to receive the Spirit
who prepares us for His coming.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Have a holy and blessed Advent!
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