A Brief Devotion for the Family Table

Prophecies of Christ from Holy Scripture. Family members may take turns reading the Scripture passage for each day. 

An Advent wreath may be lighted, adding the lighting of one candle for each week in Advent. If a rose candle is used, it is lit at the beginning of the third week. 

Grace 

All pray together: 

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. And let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen. 

The Advent candles may be extinguished after these prayers or after the meal. 

At the conclusion of the meal, the family may return thanks: 

O give thanks to the Lord for He is good. And His mercy endures forever. 

First Week in Advent 

Dec. 1 — “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch … . And this is the name by which He will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness’” (Jer. 23:5–6). 

Dec. 2 — “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen. 3:15). 

Dec. 3 — “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (Gen. 49:10). 

Dec. 4 — “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns!’” (1 Chron. 16:31). 

Dec. 5 — “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Num. 24:17). 

Dec. 6 — “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers” (Deut. 18:18). 

Dec. 7 — “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). 

Second Week in Advent 

Dec. 8 — “And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). 

Dec. 9 — Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). 

Dec. 10 — “The LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you” (Isaiah 60:2). 

Dec. 11 — “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come” (Rev. 19:7). 

Dec. 12 — “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes’” (Isaiah 62:11). 

Dec. 13 — “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). 

Dec. 14 — “[Rejoice,] O heavens, and exult, O earth; … for the LORD has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted” (Isaiah 49:13) 

Third Week in Advent 

Third Week in Advent 

Dec. 15 — “[His] coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). 

Dec. 16 — “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph. 3:17). 

The Fourth Week in Advent.

The O Antiphons of Advent begin 

Dec. 17 — “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High and covered the earth” (Ecclesiasticus 24:3). 

Dec. 18 — “The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). 

Dec. 19 — “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). 

Dec. 20 — “I will place on His shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and He shall shut, and none shall open” (Isaiah 22:22). 

Dec. 21 — “For you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings” (Mal. 4:2). 

Dec. 22 — “I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts” (Hag. 2:7). 

Dec. 23 — “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). 

Dec. 24 — “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).