During this Advent Season, let’s continue to share these Daily Bible Readings from Sacred Space as we prepare to welcome Christ into our lives anew at Christmas.
Dec. 1, 2021: Matthew 15: 29-37
Jesus comes to show us God’s great compassion. He comes to heal and to mend the broken places in our hearts and in our world.
Dec. 2: Matthew 7: 21-24
Jesus invites us to discern God’s will for us and our world so that we may survive the floods and storms of life.
Dec. 3: Matthew 9: 27-31
Just as Jesus healed the two blind men in this story, he can heal us of our blindness and help us see with new eyes.
Dec. 4: Matthew 9: 35–10: 5-8
Jesus shows us what compassion looks like. I sense God’s compassion towards me and it comforts me. I pray that I may grow in compassion as I follow Jesus’ way.
Dec. 5: the 2nd Sunday of Advent: Luke 3: 1-6
May I, like John, “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, believing that every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill be made low, the crooked will be made straight, the rough places made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Dec. 6: Luke 5: 17-26
In this story the paralyzed man’s friends brought him to Jesus and Jesus gave him healing and forgiveness. Like this man, we, too, when we are forgiven, experience the lifting of our burdens and can rise and walk.
Dec. 7: Matthew 18: 12-14
This parable shows God’s compassion for the one lost sheep. The shepherd goes searching until he finds the lost sheep and is filled with joy. Each person is precious to God.
Dec. 8: Luke 1 26-38
Reflect on Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. How can I, too, let go of fear and respond in faith to God’s call.
Dec. 9: Matthew 11: 11-15
During this Advent Season let us pray to welcome Christ into our lives and let God’s Spirit fill our hearts.
Dec. 10: Matthew 11: 16-19
Am I too cynical and critical? I pray to be open to God’s leading so that I may learn what God would teach me.
Dec. 11: Matthew 17:9a-10-13
As we prepare for Christmas, let us pray to see Jesus more clearly and welcome him more completely.
Dec. 12, the 3rd Sunday of Advent: Luke 3: 10-18
John prepares the way for Jesus, calling people to live justly and faithfully.
Dec. 13: Matthew 21: 23-27
I pray to be open to receiving God’s grace and God’s revelation in unexpected places and when I least expect it.
Dec. 14: Matthew 21; 28-32
I pray to be open to God, willing to change, ready to grow in faith and in willingness to serve others.
Dec. 15: Luke 7: 18b-23
Jesus brings good news for the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor. I ask to share my love with those who are marginalized and unwanted by the world.
Dec. 16: Luke 7: 24-30
Jesus was impressed by John because he expressed God’s values and chose simplicity of life. I reflect on my true values and my lifestyle.
Dec. 17: Matthew 1: 1-17
This is an account of the genealogy of Jesus. Each person in his family tree played an important role. I thank God for all who have been carriers of God’s grace to me and I pray to be a channel of God’s love to the world.
Dec. 18: Matthew 1: 18-25
In a mysterious, miraculous way, God’s Spirit’s action brings the gift to the world of Emmanuel, God-with-us, the human in the divine and the divine in the human!
Dec. 19: the 4th Sunday of Advent: Luke 1: 39-45
Lord, as Christmas draws every closer, free me from being self-absorbed and self-centered. Fill me with eagerness and generosity of heart.
Dec. 20: Luke 1: 26-38
In our lives, as in Mary’s, there are turning points where we may experience an invitation to embrace something difficult. How will we respond? Let us pray for God’s leading and for discernment.
Dec. 21: Luke 1: 39-45
Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and they rejoice together as they anticipate the fulfillment of what God has promised. Help me, too, to trust in God’s faithfulness.
Dec. 22: Luke 1: 46-56
Mary stays with Elizabeth for three months as they prepare for the birth of the babies God has promised they would bear. In this passage, Mary praises God who turns human history upside down, exalting the humble and feeding the hungry. Do I value the despised and the downtrodden of this world?
Dec. 23: Luke 1: 57-66
I join in the excitement around the birth of Elizabeth’s baby, John. God is fulfilling his plans through human beings. What God wills will eventually be fulfilled. I ask for faith to believe this and to be free of anxiety.
Dec. 24: Luke 1: 67-79
Let us meditate on these beautiful words of Zechariah’s prophecy. God has come to us in a vulnerable child, with an ordinary family, in a cold stable. That is the kind of God we have.
Dec. 25: John 1: 1-18
“The Word became flesh and lived among us…full of grace and truth…No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” Let us rejoice in Christ’s coming to reveal God’s heart to us!
Dec. 26: Luke 2: 41-52
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph experienced life’s uncertainties and difficulties right away. When I, too, experience such hardships, I pray that God will keep me faithful.
Dec. 27: John 20: 1a, 2-8
It is sometimes tempting to cling to the glow of Christmas. This Easter scene reminds me that faith calls me to move on, to seek the Risen Lord.
Dec. 28: Matthew 2: 13-18
Let us reflect on this passage about how the Holy Family was forced to flee into Egypt.
Let us pray for all the refugees today who are forced to flee to find safety and freedom.
Dec. 29: Luke 2: 22-35
In this passage about Simeon who saw in Jesus the salvation of God, I see his hope and yearning that left him alive to the prompting of God, ready to hear it when it came. I pray to learn from him.
Dec. 30: Luke 2: 36-40
In this passage about the prophet, Anna, age 84, who had continually worshipped, fasted, and prayed until she recognized in Jesus, the redemption for which she had waited. We also read of Jesus growing from childhood to manhood, hidden for 30 years in an obscure village. In this hidden time, Jesus becomes strong and is filled with wisdom and God’s favour. I pray to patiently wait and continually grow in faith.
Dec. 31: John 1: 1-18
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
As we come to the end of the year, we listen to what God says to us. We look forward in hope. We can walk in the light of God’s love in the new year