Second Tuesday of Advent
– You can ponder on the picture. For a method of praying with pictures click button below.
– For today’s Scripture it is often good to allow God to speak to us through our imagination.
We place ourselves in the Scripture passage.
You can read how to do this in ‘Imaginative Prayer’ – click Methods of Prayer button below.
– You can follow the suggestions in the daily ‘Reflection’.
– You can listen to the music
Today’s Scripture
Isaiah 40:1-11 (HSCB)
“Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of forced labour is over,
her iniquity has been pardoned,
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”
A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be levelled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will appear,
and all humanity together will see it,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”
Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and His power establishes His rule.
His reward is with Him,
and His gifts accompany Him.
He protects His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
Reflection
The image of Jesus as the shepherd has been seen from the earliest centuries in Christian art, and it is one of the ways he describes himself in the Gospel of John. The book of Isaiah was written around 700 years beforehand, and shows us a God who notices the difficulties and rough ground we may encounter, and whose response is to gather us to himself as a shepherd protects his sheep.
In considering the landscape of your life, or of the world, where do you notice the valleys, the rough ground? Cast your mind over:
- The political landscape
- Your work environment
- Family relationships
- Your relationship with our world
Perhaps there are places you wish to invite God the shepherd to come into, or places you may be invited to do some shepherding of your own.
Today’s Music