Second Friday of Advent – 12 December 2025
– You can ponder on the picture. For a method of praying with pictures click button below.
– You can pray on the words of Scripture. For methods of praying with scripture click button below.
– You can follow the suggestions in the daily ‘Reflection’.
– You can listen to the music
Today’s Scripture
Matthew 11:16-19 ESV
At that time: Jesus said to the crowd:
‘To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to their playmates,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”
‘For John came neither eating nor drinking,
and they say, “He has a demon.”
The Son of Man came eating and drinking,
and they say, “Look at him!
A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”
Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.’
Reflection
A question which it may be helpful to reflect on, especially since God is a God of surprises, is ‘how open am I to what God may be inviting me to notice and to how God may be at work?’. God may be at work and communicating in ways we don’t expect. That seems to be part of Jesus’ invitation in today’s reading. The people in Jesus’ day didn’t seem to recognise God at work in either John the Baptist, or Jesus. John was too austere. Jesus not austere enough.
Paying attention to our reactions to people, things, or situations can be a very helpful way of becoming aware of how open, or otherwise, we are.
What are the things you find yourself resisting, or reacting against? What are these resistances about?
Have a conversation with God about them. What might God be showing you as you reflect on them together?
Today’s Music
Casting Crowns – Jesus, Friend Of Sinners