Spending Advent with Mary,the Mother of Jesus
December 2, 2013 │
Monday of the 1st Week of Advent
Mary’s Hope
Reflection
We live in a world which is filled with difficult situations. There is war in every part of the earth. Some people starve while others are wealthy and comfortable. The poor are trampled upon while the rich gain more and more power. We spend billions of dollars, pounds, pesos or euros building weapons with which to kill one another, while the resources of the earth itself dwindle and disappear.
And yet, in the midst of this apparent hopelessness we find Mary, the beacon of hope. Isaiah the Prophet, from whom Mary would have gotten her own hope, tells us that “they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. One nation
shall not raise the sword against another…” (from Isaiah 2).
With God, Mary teaches us, there is always hope. If we rally ourselves as a community of God’s family, and allow our faith to guide us, we will indeed find our way. Mary came to understand
that Christ is the great peacemaker, and that in Christ, our hope never fades.
Share with others or ponder alone
For what do you hope? How do you believe God responds to
your hopes?
Take action
To what action does God call you in light of your hope? How
does God want you to help make that hope a reality in your part of the world?
Prayer for today
Mary, enter into my heart today and inspire me to keep hope alive! Let
me be audacious enough to believe as you did, that God is with us and if we but
follow God’s pathway, we will find our way in the current darkness. Amen.
Used with permission
Author: Bill Huebsch