This year, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is transferred to tomorrow.

During Advent, the Old Testament prophecies of our Lord illumine the darkness of this time of year. Here is part of today’s reading, from Isaiah: ‘There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord’.

This year is called ‘The Year of the Word’, and so our attention is specially directed towards Holy Scripture – in the Liturgy, in our personal Lectio Divina, and most of all as it resounds in our hearts.

May you be enabled this day to ‘Listen with the ear of your heart’ to Him who speaks to us in His Word, and may God bless you this day.