We prepare this week by increasing our longing for the birth of Christ. We move through this week by naming deeper and more specific desires.
Each morning this week, if even for that brief moment at the side of our beds, we want to light a second inner candle. We want to let it represent “a bit more hope”. Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say:
“Lord, I place my trust in you.”
Each day this week, as we encounter times that are rushed, even crazy, we can take that deep breath and make that profound prayer. Each time we face some darkness, some experience if “parched land” or “desert,” some places where we feel “defeated” or “trapped” we hear the words, “and God came to save us.”
The grace we desire this week is to be able to hear the promise and to invite our God to come into those real places of our lives that dearly need God’s coming. We want to be able to say:
“Lord, I place my trust in your promise. Please, Lord, rouse your power and come into this place in my life, this relationship, into this deep, self-defeating pattern. Please come and save me.”
Each night this week we can look back over the day and give thanks for the moment of deep breath, that opened a space for more trust and confidence in God’s fidelity to us. No matter how difficult the challenges we are facing – from the growing realization of our personal sinfulness, to any experience of emptiness or powerlessness, even in the face of death – we can give thanks with the two candles that faithfully push back the darkness. We can give thanks for the graces given us to believe that our God will indeed come to save us.
With courageous faith we ask:
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people. We await your coming. Come, Lord Jesus.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people.
We await your coming. Come, Lord Jesus.