{"id":1432,"date":"2013-12-07T01:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-07T07:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2013-12-03T09:14:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:14:40","slug":"spending-advent-with-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1432","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><\/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=1432&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\">December 7, 2013 \u2502 Saturday of the 1<sup>st<\/sup> Week of Advent<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Mary\u2019s Happiness<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Deep down, we know that our happiness as humans can only come from being united with God. We know that we long for God. Mary knew this, too. Without question, she could certainly have gone on with her life and not given her assent to God\u2019s invitation to her. But she knew her heart, and her heart longed for God. Her happiness depended on her following a course in her life which led her to follow God\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On this Advent day, ponder this in your own heart. We are moving toward the Feast of Christmas and the culture around us is promising happiness as the result of many things; eating,<br \/>\ndrinking, buying, having. But be like Mary today. Clarify for yourself the true source of deep happiness, lasting joy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you are one of those lost sheep Jesus mentions in the Gospel, today is the day for you to come home again. Return to Christ, and allow him to make you eternally happy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share with others or ponder alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What makes you happiest?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe gift you have received, give as a gift,\u201d as today\u2019s<br \/>\nGospel suggests. Share your own insight of faith with someone else today.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>God our Father, you have called us to live in your light.<br \/>\nYou promise us salvation. Keep us in the love of your Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>Used with permission<br \/>\nAuthor: Bill Huebsch<\/p>\n<p><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=1432&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":[741,1287,44,953,1284,1285,1289,192,1292,1337,1290,818,820,1144,189,659,1210,1291,882,1288,1286],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VlJd-n6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432"}],"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=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions\/2278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}