Friday, December 2, 2022
Matthew 9:27 - 31
Embrace Our Faith
The noise is everywhere. If you’re not in a store with music playing, maybe it’s the honking of cars, the dinging of reminders, or the ringing and buzzing of the phone. It could be the endless litany of things you need to remember that are creating noise for you.
Jesus gets it. Once His name got out, the crowds were unrelenting. How many times a day did He hear His name called? Today, two blind men will not leave Him alone. Did He turn to them because He knew they would keep clamoring otherwise? Or was it that their persistence proved their faith?
“Let it be done for you according to your faith,” He told them as He touched their eyes.
He tells us that too. It’s an invitation to embrace our faith more deeply, to dive into it and let it define us. It can be a banner of courage for us, a defining characteristic.
We don’t have to preach with words (though they help). How we’re living our lives tells plenty (and loudly). You are a witness, and Advent can be a time for you to share that with your world.
Daily Prayer
Lord, you are here in this place. Thank you for guiding my faith, and keep me close to you as I continue to journey through Advent.
SOURCE: Creighton University Online Ministries
Sunday Reading Prep
Review and reflect on the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent. What message is Jesus trying to share with us? How can we use his teachings to follow Him more faithfully?
Reading I Isaiah 11:1-10
Reading II Romans 15:4-13
Gospel Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
[and] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
It was of him that the prophet Isaiahc had spoken when he said:
“A voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.’”
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?e
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
