Sunday, Christmas Day
December 25, 2016
Today’s Thought from Scripture: Isaiah 52:7
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Krisamas kee badhaee… That’s “Merry Christmas” in Hindi! Thank you for joining me this Advent season in reading Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta. In the book, the readings continue through the Christmas season, from tomorrow (the Feast of St. Stephen) through the New Year and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
As we wrap up this Advent tribute to Saint Teresa, please join me in offering the prayer of St. John Newman, which she and her Sisters offered in chapel each day.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may be only a radiance of yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us,
that every soul we come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but Jesus!
Stay with us, and then we shall begin
To shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best
By shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching,
Not by words but by our example;
By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do,
The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!
To read the full readings for today, click here.
Advent Reflections Courtesy of:
Heidi is a wife and adoptive mother, contributing writer to WINE, and author of Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta and the follow-up companion, Lent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Servant, released January 2017). Heidi received a graduate degree in theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit in 2012, having converted to the Catholic faith in 1995 from the evangelical tradition. She met her husband, Craig, at the University of Michigan Ballroom Dance Club, and lives with her family (including two special-needs teenagers, a longsuffering Aussie shepherd and a snuggly Chiweenie) near South Bend, Indiana.
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