First Tuesday of Advent

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Advent Reading

Isaiah 11:1-10; Luke 10:21-24

 Jesus said:

 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not  your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." 

 Peace is not only possible; it is the gift already given.  Christ gives us his peace by giving us himself, for he is the Prince of Peace...The peace that is ours is not a peace of pretending that things are not as they are; nor is it a peace of being blind to conflict.  It is the peace of faith. Faith is trust in the Prince of Peace.  We neither hold ourselves aloof from the anguish of a conflicted world nor delude ourselves that the resolution of all conflicts is within our power.  In the child of Bethlehem, in the powerlessness of a baby, God entered into our conflicts. 

Heavenly Father, look out for your children who are imperiled by war around us and war within us. Prepare us to welcome the Prince of Peace in his birth at Bethlehem so that in a violent world he may make us instruments of the peace that he gives.

Amen.

Let it be.

Taken from "God with Us"