Wednesday 15 December 2021

Today is Wednesday the 15 December, in the third week of Advent.

The Gaudete Ensemble conducted by Eamon Dougamn sing 'O Oriens' by Margaret Rizza: "O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death."

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 45:6-8,18
So that they may know, from the rising of the sun
   and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
   I am the Lord, and there is no other. 
I form light and create darkness,
   I make weal and create woe;
   I the Lord do all these things. 
Shower, O heavens, from above,
   and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
   and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
 I the Lord have created it. 
For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
   (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
   (he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
 he formed it to be inhabited!) 
I am the Lord, and there is no other.

In today’s reading, the prophet, who is trying to persuade his fellow-exiles to return home to Jerusalem; they were not very keen: too much like hard work, all those thousands of miles of desert to cross. How did the great prophet-poet encourage them to rise to the challenge?

Is this something that speaks to you today? A sense of rising to the challenge with what God is asking of you?

Now listen as the passage is read to you a second time.  What does it tell us about the God for whom the prophet is speaking?

Finally, what is your heart saying to you at this time? Can you bring it together in a prayer to God?

O Wisdom
Lord and Ruler
Root of Jesse
Key of David
Rising Sun
King of the Nations
Emmanuel
Come, Lord Jesus