The last day of Advent, and the last day but one of this haiku image series.

Things are coming to an end (which is rather the point of Advent). Today we’re onto the birth and naming of the forerunner, with a picture of the Judean desert on the Jordan border.

Today’s image is a fresco from the lower floors of the abbey at Subiaco.

A bit of a problem when the Gospel turned out to be identical to the one that taxed my brain and image library on Sunday. But here’s today’s freshly minted non-identical twin.

Today’s picture is two icons inside the Orthodox Church of St Gabriel, Nazareth.

Into the last stretch now, and definitely the hardest week to illustrate – especially since today’s gospel from the Sunday cycle turns up again in the weekday cycle on Tuesday!

And so the third week of Advent comes to a close, with a reflection on St. Joseph, fronting Matthew’s nativity narrative.

Today’s haiku – and I confess to a sense of relief that there’s only a week left. But now I won’t be able to use this picture for Christmas Day.

I’m beginning to realise how much I like alliteration! Here’s today’s haiku.