Loving God, Merciful Father,
in this Season of Advent we turn to you in prayer.
As we wait for the coming of your son, we ask you to bless our family.
Help me to accept the Grace of your Peace.
Remove any obstacle that may prevent me from offering your Peace to others.
May your Peace fill our hearts, our minds and our home. As together we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen.
Gospel Reading First Sunday of Advent, Luke.Second
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low,
winding ways will be straightened
and rough roads made smooth.
And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
At the centre of Christmas is a child – the baby Jesus. Jesus is a sign to us that we are all God’s children and loved by God. Christmas is a very busy time but it can also be an anxious time as we try to get a lot of things done.
This Christmas more than most will have new challenges so its important to take a step back and focus on what is important in our lives – the love we have for God and each other, that’s why the theme for the second Sunday of Advent is Peace. With this in mind we ask God to help us to be at peace this Christmas and so we pray;
Loving God,
as we wait for the coming of your Son, we ask you to bless our families. Help us to welcome Jesus this Christmas as the Light of the world May He give us the gift of Peace and may His peace guard our hearts, our minds and our home. Amen.
Fr.Richard.
Loving God, let your blessing come upon us as we light this our second candle .
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
May this lighted candle be a sign of Peace we pray to have with others, as we prepare for your coming.
May it turn our hearts to you in the days ahead. Give us peace and love as we wait in joyful hope.
We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen.
“Come, Lord Jesus.”
May the Lord bless us, protect us,keep us from all evil,
and bring us to eternal Life.
Amen.
