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Advent: Reflections
++ Advent Reflections 2024 eBook is free to download for 5 days from 1st June 2024 ++ and reached no 2 in the Kindle store (Christian Living).
Use the eBook Advent Reflections to set aside time for God. There are daily reading, spiritual prompts and suggestions for pathways to prayers. Do 'look inside', this option has been set to the maximum. The price has been set low. All proceeds go to St James's Church Piccadilly. It is available on Kindle unlimited and KENP Read.
We often miss Advent's power because the December weeks are full of secular Christmas parties and preparations for Christmas. Each year, the busyness of the Advent season serves to distract us from having an Advent that truly prepares us for the celebration of Christmas, with all its meaning. This eBook offers readings and prayers to enter into this Advent season, day by day, in the midst of our everyday lives.
So what is Advent - a warm up season, a rehearsal time for Christmas?
Or is it a season of frenetic purchasing and office partying, made more expensive this year because of the rise in the cost of living?
Or is it a time to look forward to the birth of Jesus and ask, ‘What am I doing for God’?
Advent is the season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Advent begins four weeks or so before Christmas Day.
Take time this Advent to ponder on how out of sheer love, Jesus comes among us not to fix everything, but to be in total solidarity with us, and in the messiness of life to show a truer way of being human.
During Advent we are reminded of the myriad of ways to contemplate, pray and retreat. During this time we can reflect on the birth of Jesus, we can pray and be renewed. We can learn how we might all start, continue, and deepen our Christian journey.
John 1:4-5:
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The Merton Prayer
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thomas Merton
Praying at the end of the day.
Before beginning any prayer, it is good to spend a few seconds reminding ourselves what we are about to do and asking God that our whole being may be directed purely to His service and praise. It is a prayer that our life may be directed. Let your mind drift over the day, refraining from any self-judgement, whether of approval or disapproval, attending to only those moments of the day for which you are grateful. Even the most traumatic day will have some good moments, if only we take the trouble to look . You will be surprised at the number and variety of good moments in the day which, had they not been deliberately recalled, would have been quickly forgotten, obscured by any painful experience in the day. Having remembered the events, for which you are grateful, thank and praise God for them.
We often miss Advent's power because the December weeks are full of secular Christmas parties and preparations for Christmas. Each year, the busyness of the Advent season serves to distract us from having an Advent that truly prepares us for the celebration of Christmas, with all its meaning. This eBook offers readings and prayers to enter into this Advent season, day by day, in the midst of our everyday lives.
So what is Advent - a warm up season, a rehearsal time for Christmas?
Or is it a season of frenetic purchasing and office partying, made more expensive this year because of the rise in the cost of living?
Or is it a time to look forward to the birth of Jesus and ask, ‘What am I doing for God’?
Advent is the season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Advent begins four weeks or so before Christmas Day.
Take time this Advent to ponder on how out of sheer love, Jesus comes among us not to fix everything, but to be in total solidarity with us, and in the messiness of life to show a truer way of being human.
During Advent we are reminded of the myriad of ways to contemplate, pray and retreat. During this time we can reflect on the birth of Jesus, we can pray and be renewed. We can learn how we might all start, continue, and deepen our Christian journey.
John 1:4-5:
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The Merton Prayer
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thomas Merton
Praying at the end of the day.
Before beginning any prayer, it is good to spend a few seconds reminding ourselves what we are about to do and asking God that our whole being may be directed purely to His service and praise. It is a prayer that our life may be directed. Let your mind drift over the day, refraining from any self-judgement, whether of approval or disapproval, attending to only those moments of the day for which you are grateful. Even the most traumatic day will have some good moments, if only we take the trouble to look . You will be surprised at the number and variety of good moments in the day which, had they not been deliberately recalled, would have been quickly forgotten, obscured by any painful experience in the day. Having remembered the events, for which you are grateful, thank and praise God for them.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 15, 2023
6 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 6, 2025
Highly Recommended
I recommend the book's published by Lent publications. I found this Advent Reflections 2024, inspiring, comforting, and thought provoking. A real blessing.
I recommend the book's published by Lent publications. I found this Advent Reflections 2024, inspiring, comforting, and thought provoking. A real blessing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review