{"id":1414,"date":"2013-12-03T01:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T07:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1414"},"modified":"2013-12-02T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T21:45:37","slug":"spending-advent-with-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1414","title":{"rendered":"Spending Advent with Mary, the Mother of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/tn_MP9003848811.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1401\" title=\"Spending Advent with Mary the Mother of Jesus\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/tn_MP9003848811.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a><div class=\"print-this-button-shell\">\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"print-this-button\" onClick=\"parent.location='https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1414&printthis=1&printsect=1'\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Print This!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Print This Section 1 Start -->\n<div class=\"print-this-content\">Dec. 3, 2013\u00a0\u2502<br \/>\nTuesday of the 1<sup>st<\/sup> Week of Advent<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Mary\u2019s Justice<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n<p>How could Mary have had such astrong sense of the Justice which only God can establish? How could this rather simple woman, this young girl, have seen so deeply into the heart of God?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We know that Mary was deeply engaged with the Prophets of Israel. She knew full well that a shoot would indeed sprout from the House of David, bringing justice and peace, ending fear and hostility, and establishing love as the enduring force on earth. Mary did indeed understand that only God can transform us \u2013 and that she herself was being transformed even as she lived through her pregnancy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We really need this good news, don\u2019t we? We really need to believe with Mary that Justice will come. Justice in this sense means \u201cmaking things right as God set them to be.\u201d God desires<br \/>\nthis for us humans, that we live according to the divine plan. We pray with Psalm 72, \u201cJustice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share with others or ponder alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How is God\u2019s justice established through us humans? What<br \/>\nactions can we take to further this work?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Spend ten or fifteen minutes alone and in silence today. Ask<br \/>\nMary to be with you, in her wisdom, in her closeness to Christ, and in her deep<br \/>\nbelief that through us, God will bring Justice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mary, Mother of Jesus, help me turn to God with hope and<br \/>\nfaith. Help me feel the growing joy in my heart which you felt in yours. But at<br \/>\nthe same time, help me live with \u201cthe burden\u201d of knowing that bringing Christ<br \/>\ninto the world today is my task and calling, just as it was yours. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>Used with permission<br \/>\nAuthor: Bill Huebsch<\/p>\n<div class=\"print-this-button-shell\">\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"print-this-button\" onClick=\"parent.location='https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1414&printthis=1&printsect=1'\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Print This!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<!-- Print This Section 1 Start -->\n<div class=\"print-this-content\"><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- Print This Section 1 End -->\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div>\n<!-- Print This Section 2 End -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[741,1244,1239,1238,1240,1233,1235,1236,1241,1234,1237,1203,818,820,1231,1232,659,1210,1242,1243],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VlJd-mO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1414"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2268,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions\/2268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}