Friday of Ember Week in Advent
Posted on December 16, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 11:11-15 (NKJV)
11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Devotion
The wily serpent deceived Eve and she ate from the forbidden tree. Eve would become the mother of all living, but we would be tainted with sin, just like Eve and her husband Adam. Of all those born of a woman, no one had risen any greater than St. John the Baptist. But on account of the sin which we have all inherited, even St. John was not greater than the least of those in the Kingdom of Heaven.
He was greater than all those born of a woman because he was the Forerunner to the Christ; he was the one who prepared the way for the coming of our Lord Jesus. He preached repentance for the remission of sins. He called all those born of a woman to repent of their sins, and cling in faith to the promised Messiah, who stood among them, and who would baptize all of us born of a woman—born in sin—with the Holy Ghost. He would take away our sin by washing us in His blood; the blood of the spotless Lamb who takes away our sin.
All those baptized into the Lamb of God to which St. John pointed are a part of the Kingdom of Heaven through faith. We have been gifted with a new life and reality. No longer are we counted as born of a sinful woman, but we are now born in righteousness from above. One day we will live in paradise with all those born from above.
Prayer: Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and come, that they who trust in Thy loving kindness may be the more speedily freed from all adversity; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Gaudete
Lord, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers, and lighten the darkness of our hearts, by Thy gracious visitation; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
