December 22
Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you see will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap.. and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver... Behold, I will send you Elijiah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.
Malachi 3:1-3; 4:5-6
Christ is not only born at Christmas, though it is at Christmas that we keep the Feast of the Incarnation. He is born day after day; in every infant or adult as they are baptized, in every sinner who is sorry for sin and absolved, in everyone in whom God’s grace quickens the supernatural life (which is the Christ-life) for the first or the millionth time... We can say (that) on any night, anywhere--in a tenement, prison, hospital, school, church: wherever Christ is born or reborn in a human life, that place becomes a new Bethlehem. Caryll Houselander
HYMN
O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind.
From dust thou brought us forth to life; deliver us from earthly strife.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
MAGNIFICAT
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.
PRAYER
Thank you, Lord, for a world in which everything signifies,
in which every word, thought and deed
carries the weight of Eternity,
and where prophets rage
when we forget
that Happiness is ours
to win--or lose.
Refuse of sinners, pray for us.
