Father Bob's Reflections

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

Dear Friends,

Isaiah dreams of a bright future for us; he also chastises us for our idolatry and unfaithfulness to God and our best selves.

But today he shows us a wonderful vision: the animals lead the way to peace!

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb . .

The calf and the young lion shall browse together,

with a little child to guide them.

The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,

together their young shall rest:

the lion shall eat hay like an ox

The baby shall play in the cobra’s den (Isaiah 11:5-10.)

Let’s muse about peace and harmony today.

About the animal’s leading the way to peace.

(I have a Christmas short story about an owl from the banks of the Shenandoah

and a young lion from the Serenghetti  Plain in Africa leading the way to peace.

It’s a delightful story.  Why not download it and save it for close to Christmas?

My puppy Shivvy (who died two weeks ago) demonstrated a love for fellow creatures of all sorts.

I have stories of him with turtles and little doves with broken wings and bunny rabbits and ducklings on our walks around our condo.

Think about it.

What can you do today to bring more harmony into the habitat in which you live

– at home, at work, at church, in my neighborhood, in our world?

Behold a broken world, we pray,

Where want and war increase,

And grant us, Lord, in this our day,

The ancient dream of peace.    — unattributed.

If you’re new to this Advent blog,  I recommend reading Welcome to Advent 2009 to get a sense of why we want to spend four weeks preparing for our Christmas celebration and how it can help you deepen your spirituality whether you are a Catholic or even a Christian.

I will be posting each day of Advent, (God willin’ n’ the creek don’t rise.)
You can subscribe to the blog and it will come directly to your inbox and look like the box above.
Just scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email address.  You can unsubcribe at anytime.

You can make yourself  mini-retreat for five minutes a day and have the best and most meaningful Christmas ever!
It’ll relieve your stress.  Calm your nerves.  Put a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.  And it’s free!
So, what are you waiting for?  Come on board!  Put your email address in the hopper and you won’t have to think about it again.

And now, for your listening pleasure from Handel’s Messiah here are two versions of  “And the Glory of the Lord” ~ one from Robert Shaw’s Atlanta Symphony.  Be sure to enter full screen and turn up your speakers.

With love,

Bob Traupman

contemplative writer

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