Fourth Thursday of Advent

Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Matthew 1:18-24

"Today our readings ask us to reflect on a mystery: when our lives are most barren, when possibilities are cruelly limited, and despair takes hold, when we feel most keenly the emptiness of life - it is then that God comes close to us...but we are not without hope, for it is because we are so empty, having used the last scrap of our own resources, that God can move in".(Kathleen Norris, God With Us)

Emmanuel

"The promise of Isaiah that we heard at the beginning of Advent is now closer to fruition, if we will only pay attention to the signs: "The wilderness and the dry land's shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and bloom." Now, as the world clamors for more toys and loud festivity, is the time for us to put first things first, and seek silence, if only for a few precious minutes a day. Now is the time when, ever more intently, we are to watch and listen for God." (Kathleen Norris, God With Us)

Emmanuel

God is with us

Father, may we stop, watch and listen for you.