December 6/First Saturday of Advent When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” ~ Matt 9.36-38 However one…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Keeping Advent 6: Touch and Go
December 5/First Friday of Advent Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. ~ Matt 9.29-30 A very wise mother I know once told me that when her daughter was a teenager and conversation grew fraught, the only form of communication she attempted was a brief…
Keeping Advent 5: Demolition by Neglect
December 4/First Thursday of Advent The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell – and great was its fall! ~ Matt 7.27 Failure to build on a strong foundation is inevitably a pathway to collapse, whether one is constructing a house or a faith life. The obvious and salutary…
Keeping Advent 4: Being There
December 3/First Wednesday of Advent Moving on from there Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee, and going up onto the mountain he sat down there. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them. ~ Matt 15.29 The Jesus…
Keeping Advent 3: The Head and the Heart
December 2/First Tuesday of Advent “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” ~ Luke 10.21 No matter how often I read this passage from Luke, it always leaves me a bit defensive. What’s wrong with being “wise…
Keeping Advent 2: Using Your Words
December 1/First Monday of Advent “Simply say it with a word, and my servant shall be healed.” ~ Matt 8.8 “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,” the prayer begins, “trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.” Growing up in the Episcopal Church, I recited this prayer every week…
Keeping Advent 1: What Next?
November 30/First Sunday of Advent Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. ~ Matt 24.44 On this first day of Advent, in a time when the world already feels unpredictable and even perilous, Matthew sounds a suitably ominous note. Today’s Gospel is almost Hitchcockian in its dire warnings to the…
Coming Soon: Daily Advent Reflections
Again this year I am offering daily Advent reflections by email. These brief meditations are accompanied by a prayer, a link to the day’s readings, and a musical offering. There is no cost to subscribe, email addresses are not shared, and you may unsubscribe at any time. The reflections will begin on the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, and will…
Song 40: Thresholds
April 19/Holy Saturday I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence.You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. ~ Ps 16. 8, 9,…
Song 39: Broken
April 18/Good Friday For all my foes I am an object of reproach, a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends; they who see me abroad flee from me.I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken. ~ Ps 31.12-13 The other night as I was unloading the dishwasher, a bowl…