Be Still: Daily Devotional

This is the Saturday examen for the season of Advent.  I’m glad you’ve joined us for a time of reflection and prayer. Pray along with me. Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do and seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day, We who are anxious over many things… look forward to your coming among...

Today is December 19th in the 3rd week of Advent. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.     “When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusale...

Today is December 18th in the 3rd week of Advent. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit.      Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.     “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,...

Today is December 17th in the 3rd week of Advent.   The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.     “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping w...

Today is December 16th in the 3rd week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.     “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first...

Today is December 15 in the 3rd week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.    Today’s reading is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 29.    In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field     and the fertile field seem like a forest? 18 In that...

JOY | Third Sunday of Advent Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Today, we’re being reminded that some of the most ordinary things can also be the most holy: the laughter of kids, a filled room at the food pantry, and a busy kitchen. It’s through things like the laughter of children and the sharing of a meal that we discover a deeper joy that can transform the mundane into the miraculous. Psalm 3...

This is the Saturday examen for the season of Advent. I’m glad you’ve joined us for a time of reflection and prayer. Pray along with me. Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do and seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day, We who are anxious over many things… look forward to your coming among u...

Today is December 12th in the second week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 60.    “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD h...

Today is December 11th in the second week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4.      “Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived...

Today is December 10th in the second week of Advent.   Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5.     “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes u...

Today is December 9th, in the second week of Advent.   May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.      Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.     Today’s reading is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 60.     “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you...

Today is December 8 in the 2nd week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.       Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.      Today’s reading is from the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4.      As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you...

PEACE | Second Sunday of Advent Today is the second Sunday of Advent. In the quiet, simple routines of our ordinary daily lives – things like taking a moment for Advent. OR things like: washing dishes, caring for an elderly parent, or playing with a child – the peace of Christ is near to us, and we can learn to be attentive to it, just like we can pay attention to small flames of these advent cand...

This is the Saturday examen for the season of Advent.  I’m glad you’ve joined us for a time of reflection and prayer. Pray along with me. Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do and seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day, We who are anxious over many things… look forward to your coming among...

Today is December 5th in the first week of Advent.   The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.       Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.      Today’s reading is from several verses from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.     “He calls together his friends and his neig...

Today is December 4th in the first week of Advent. May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.       Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.      Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 3.   “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiber'i-us Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and...

Today is December 3rd in the first week of Advent. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.      Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.      Today’s reading is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 55.     “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine a...

Today is December 2 - in the first week of Advent The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1.“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger befor...

Today is December 1 in the first week of Advent. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.    Today’s reading is from the book of Romans, chapter 6.    What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; ho...

HOPE | First Sunday of Advent Today is the first Sunday of Advent. In whatever small moment of stillness you can make as December begins today, I want to invite you to make space for HOPE… through cultivating hope through giving yourself to the simple act of waiting. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us that those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; the...

This is a version of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced. 1. Become aware of God’s presence. 2. Review the day with gratitude. 3. Pay attention to your emotions. 4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow.

Today is November 28  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”      Today’s reading is from the gospel of Luke, chapter 8.     4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he t...

Today is November 27  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.     Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”      Today’s reading is from Psalm 71.             14 As for me, I will always have hope;            I will praise you more and more.          15 My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,            of your sa...

Today is November 26.    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.       Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”           Today’s reading is from Psalm 63.    1 You, God, are my God,       earnestly I seek you;   I thirst for you,       my whole being longs for you...