Second Saturday of Advent – 13 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 17:9a, 10-13 ESV
As they were coming down the mountain…., the disciples asked Jesus, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’ He answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
Reflection
‘Sorry, I didn’t recognise you there!’ How often have we said that to another person, or had it said to us? Having closed minds may be one reason why people don’t recognise that God is present and at work. Another may be that they simply don’t expect God to come as God does. They don’t recognise God’s coming. In essense that summarises the event which Advent seeks to prepare us for. The people of Israel were waiting, indeed longing, for the Messiah. But they were not expecting that Messiah to come as he did. They also missed the arrival of the one whom they were told would come to prepare the way for the Messiah, Elijah. In fact, Jesus tell his friends, Elijah has come – John the Baptist – but they didn’t recognise him.
God, we say we believe, is present all the time and everywhere. Finding God in all things is a motto of Ignatian spirituality.
Do we recognise God in those around us? In the situations of daily life?
How much are we looking for ‘Christ in the face of friend and stranger’?
Today’s Music
The Deer’s Cry (St Patrick’s Breastplate)