{"id":1507,"date":"2013-12-12T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T07:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2013-12-03T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:28:43","slug":"1507","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1507","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=1507&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 12, 2013 \u2502 Thursday of the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> Week of Advent<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Mary\u2019s Grace<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Each of us receives God\u2019s grace at the moment of our conception. Mary did, too. But in her case, we believe, this grace was so great that it allowed her to become the mother of Jesus. Mary\u2019s Grace was sufficient that she could embrace the unknown, the mysterious will of God. She was able to say Let it be done\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We all share in this grace. It is the awesome power of God, present within us, lighting our way, enlightening us with faith, guiding and forming us as Christians. Mary is the ultimate model<br \/>\nfor us, the one whom we aspire to be like. When we hear the voice of God,calling us to do what is loving, and to avoid sin and evil, we know we have the grace to say, as she did, \u201cLet it be done\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share with others or ponder alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When have you experienced the power of God, empowering you to love and do good?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We must become conscious of God\u2019s grace in our lives, just as Mary did. Today, spend time in quiet preparation for Christmas, making a list of the ways in which God\u2019s grace is present in your own life.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>God of Strength and Grace, I need your wisdom in order to<br \/>\nsee the many ways in which you are saving me through grace. Give me today the<br \/>\ninsight to see you more clearly. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>Used with permission<\/p>\n<p>Author: 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=1507&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<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","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":[741,1342,834,1293,1341,44,1338,1344,1343,192,1339,1337,818,820,1144,1340,189,659,1210,1267,1215],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3VlJd-1507","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507"}],"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=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2291,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/2291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}