Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: December 17, 2023

Date:   3rd Sunday of Advent

 Scripture Text:  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances.Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.

May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it. 

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

 The second reading for today is drawn from the concluding verses of Paul’s 1st Letter to the Thessalonians. It contains seven imperatives of life in Christ beginning with rejoicing always and ending with refraining from every kind of evil. Paul’s whole letter emphasizes that Christian faith is lived - it is expressed in one’s life, not just in one’s words.

Finally, Paul reminds us that we are to belong to Christ entirely: spirit, soul, and body. His prayer that we keep all aspects of our being holy and whole is in keeping with his entire letter and with our lives as Christians. And he ends by reminding us that our LORD is faithful, as we should be.  

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

 Am I a person of joy? Am I grateful? Am I faithful? Am I living as the LORD calls me to live?

Praying:

LORD,  Almighty Father, Beloved Son, Most Holy Spirit, You created us from love for lives lived through love. We call upon You for help in our earthly lives, our journey home, so that we might be people marked by joy because of our certitude of your being and your love. Grant that we may be people of prayer, never far from You, always relying upon You for grace and guidance. Open our minds and hearts to your mysterious ways so that we might fully embrace your salvation won for us upon a cross and your moment-to-moment presence to us in this age. Help us to be faithful to You as we know with every fiber of our being that You are faithful. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.