2nd Sunday in Advent, 2011

Yesterday we celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent. 

Two candles of the four are now lit, bringing a bit more light into the darkness.  

Isn't this Advent wreath a thing of beauty? 

I'm drawn to both the earthy textures and desert-like colors.

Which brings me to John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness.

The forerunner to the Messiah, who prepared His way.

He was earthy to the max, wasn't he?

 With his rough clothing, austere diet, and calls for repentance.

I have lifted the following quote from a website

that I look forward to receiving every week:

The Edge of Enclosure.  Do check it out here.

And as you light your second candle, consider the pairing of our loneliness,

our desert experiences of life, with the river of life

that the Christ child will bring and fill us with in this season

so that we might offer such a love to those who, like us,

are also wandering in the wilderness. 

***

"Our brokenness is the wound through which

the full power of God can penetrate our being and transfigure us in God.

Loneliness is not something from which we must flee

but the place from where we can cry out to God,

where God will find us and we can find God.

Yes, through our wounds the power of God can penetrate us

and become like rivers of living water to irrigate the arid earth within us.

Thus we may irrigate the arid earth of others, so that hope and love are reborn."
-Jean Vanier
The Broken Body
1988 Paulist Press
quoted from An Advent Sourcebook (LTP)

the photo of the Advent table decoration is from here.