Day 7

The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo

Busy Catholic’s Online Advent Retreat

A Season of Praise

Day Seven – Sunday, December 11

Praise God for His Reliability

Today’s Reading

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

(Isaiah 35)

Fr. Knight’s Reflection

   Don’t our “knees go weak,” and our “hearts get frightened”? We cannot command our emotions to be sensible! They don’t obey us.

   But God we can always rely on. Like Jesus, each of us can say, “I am never alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).

   We need to praise God for that. Praise keeps us aware.

   John the Baptizer felt alone when he sent disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

   Jesus told John to praise God for what Jesus was doing instead of blaming him for what he wasn’t: “The blind regain sight, the lame walk…the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” Praise God.

   Jesus was at work in the world. He was just not using his power to deliver John.

   But Jesus did deliver John—not just from his prison cell, but from the darkness and narrowness of the world itself. And he gave him faith to “make firm the knees that were weak, and the heart that was frightened.” When the executioners arrived, the Spirit said to John, “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God!”

   That is the gift we can rely on. No matter what happens, praise God: “The Lord God keeps faith forever.”

Copyright by David Knight.  Used by permission of Twenty-Third Publications.

For Your Reflection or Discussion

Under what circumstances have you experienced “weak knees” or “frightened hearts”?  Is there a circumstance right now for which you need to remember and praise God’s reliability?

Daily Practice

“Say to those whose hearts are frightened: ‘Be strong, fear not! Your God comes to save you!’”

Advent Prayer

Father, all powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When he humbled himself to come among us,
he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago 

and opened for us the way to salvation.

Now we watch for the day,

when Christ will come again in his glory.

And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven

we proclaim your glory
and join in their unending hymn of praise.

Day 6

The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo

Busy Catholic’s Online Advent Retreat

A Season of Praise

Day Six – Saturday, December 10

Praise God’s Changing Sameness

Today’s Reading

O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth….
Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see;
Take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted….
Then we will no more withdraw from you….
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

(Psalm 80)

Fr. Knight’s Reflection

   God doesn’t change. The “God of power and might” in the Jewish Scriptures has the same face as the loving Father Jesus described. But God keeps correcting the inadequate images we have of him. Praise God for that.

   John the Baptizer was the “second Elijah,” precursor and preview of the Messiah. John’s disciples did not recognize this, because Elijah was a man “like fire,” powerful and violent. But when Herod arrested John, even Jesus left him weak and alone in prison until he was beheaded.

   In John, as in Jesus, God revealed his glory in a new way, wrapped in weakness and humility. Yet the face of the “suffering servant” described by Isaiah (53:2) is the same face that “shone like the sun” when Jesus was transfigured (Matthew 17:2).

   We praise God for his “changing face” that keeps us from restricting God’s image to any limited perception of him.

   We praise Jesus for revealing himself as both beautiful and ugly in his sinful and sanctifying church—in the choices of her saints and the challenge of her sinners, in teaching dogmas with fidelity and developing doctrines with freedom, and in preserving the past, adapting to the present, and feeling her way into the future. Praise God for the face of Jesus, always changing, yet “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Praise God for his predictability and unpredictability.

Copyright by David Knight.  Used by permission of Twenty-Third Publications.

For Your Reflection or Discussion

In what way(s) has your image of God—your understanding of God—changed over the past ten years? …since you were a child?

Daily Practice

Praise the changing face of God.

Advent Prayer

Father, all powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When he humbled himself to come among us,
he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago 

and opened for us the way to salvation.

Now we watch for the day,

when Christ will come again in his glory.

And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven

we proclaim your glory
and join in their unending hymn of praise.

 

Day 5

The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo

Busy Catholic’s Online Advent Retreat

A Season of Praise

Day 5 – Friday, December 9

Praise God for His Generosity

Today’s Reading

Blessed the one who does not follow the counsel of the wicked,
Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent….
Blessed the one who delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night….

For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.

Fr. Knights Reflection

   Do you think God is generous? God says he will “teach us…lead us…give us what is for our good.”

   All we have to do is delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night.

   And praise him for it. What we praise we will appreciate.

   We need to praise Jesus consciously—for the clarity of his way and the brilliance of his truth. The “crowds” called John crazy for his austerity; they called Jesus a “glutton and drunkard” for eating and drinking normally. They blinded themselves to the good in Jesus’ new law.

   We need to open our eyes to God’s generosity: to the life—divine and human—that he is giving us right now, and to the law that teaches us how to get the most out of life. Praise makes us aware of what we were not noticing.

   We praise God by giving thanks. The Mass declares that it is not only “right and just” but “our duty and our salvation” to give God thanks “always and everywhere.” All day. What we praise we will appreciate. Praise makes us aware of God’s generosity to us. Being aware of his generosity makes us appreciate him.

Copyright by David Knight.  Used by permission of Twenty-Third Publications.

For Your Reflection or Discussion

For what are you most grateful for in the past week? … in your adult life?  How have you praised God for his generosity?

Daily Practice

Keep repeating with praise and thanksgiving: “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.”

Advent Prayer

Father, all powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When he humbled himself to come among us,
he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago 

and opened for us the way to salvation.

Now we watch for the day,

when Christ will come again in his glory.

And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven

we proclaim your glory
and join in their unending hymn of praise.