Sunday December 10, 2023 - Good News Ministries

Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

“We are all called to be like Mary giving birth to Jesus so that the world becomes a better place.”

Good News Reflection for:

Second Sunday of Advent
December 10, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

Forgive me, Jesus, for my distractions and for all the time I’ve wasted on things that separate me from You. Grant me the grace to be ever attentive to Your commands and Your love. Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
gnm.org/SaintQuotes/

Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Ps 85:9-14
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121023.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2020-12-06

You have a fruitful future

Today’s readings tell us to prepare for the Lord – for whatever he wants to give us, do for us, and ask of us. He has a plan for our lives; he has a divine purpose that will bring us to our full potential as children of our loving Father and as partners with Christ the Savior of the world.

We can only fulfill our wonderful potential if we unite ourselves to Christ by joining him on the straight path, the holy path.

How do we know when we are on the right path? By the fruits of the journey. The way of holiness always produces good fruits.

Isaiah says: A voice cries out in the desert! What is barren in your life, and dry, hot, or empty? Sins dry up what would otherwise be fruitful.

Advent is a good preparation for Christmas – and meeting the Lord anew – if we use it to face our sins, reconcile with God, and follow Jesus back onto the holy path. If we neglect this opportunity, Christmas will be only a secular holiday. Our lives will be too barren to give Jesus to others, and we will feel just as empty next year as we do right now.

Prepare the way of the Lord! He has more love to give you, more healing, more joy! Make straight in the wasteland of your sins a highway for our God. Go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and create a wider road into your heart that’s easy for Jesus to travel, a through-way upon which he can arrive in great speed and glory.

All humankind is as frail as grass, and all our glory is like the flower of the field that withers and wilts. Only the glory of God stands forever.

What are your troubles and struggles this Advent? Here is where Jesus wants to minister to you, and here is where you are most vulnerable to sin.

What in your life is going well? What activities are you doing that seem good and productive? Are any of them grassy glories that can wither away in a drought? A hundred years from now, will what you’re doing today still have an impact – a beneficial impact?

God has given you talents and a vocation – a calling, a special purpose – that requires those talents. Yes, you! We are all called to have fruitful lives that make an eternal difference. We are all called to be like Mary giving birth to Jesus so that the world becomes a better place. Jesus wants to come straight to us to produce the fruits of his eternal kingdom in our lives and in others.

Are you wasting time? If so, take this to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and prepare yourself for the way of the Lord. He wants to make an eternal difference through you!

Questions for Personal Reflection:
What are you going to do this week to straighten a crooked path? What are you spending time on that is only going to wither up and wilt away?

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
What good do you see in each other that will make an eternal difference? How does thinking about eternity straighten the path that you’re walking on today? What changes because of this perspective?

For more on this, use our WordByte, “Why must we go to confession if God’s love is unconditional” @ wordbytes.org/faqs/why-confession/

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