{"id":1533,"date":"2013-12-18T01:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1533"},"modified":"2013-12-03T09:37:58","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:37:58","slug":"spending-advent-with-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1533","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=1533&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\"><\/p>\n<p>December 18, 2013 \u2502 Wednesday of the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> Week of Advent<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Mary\u2019s Gift<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This period of December is usually filled with shopping and gift buying as people around the world prepare\u00a0 for Christmas. We can become very busy with baking, decorating, and parties.<br \/>\nBut let\u2019s pause today and think together about Mary\u2019s Gift. We often hear about\u00a0 this gift in the Gospel. In one story, John\u2019s followers go to Jesus to ask if\u00a0 he is indeed the one for whom they were waiting. Jesus responded that they should\u00a0 return to John and tell him what gifts they saw God giving to us through him\u00a0 and his ministry: sight, speech, healing, and good news! What gifts!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Advent is a time for us to ponder\u00a0 Mary\u2019s Gift, her son, Jesus Christ. How we receive this gift is more important\u00a0 than all the shopping and decorating of a thousand Decembers! Like Mary, we<br \/>\nmust be ready for this re-birth into our lives. Be ready as during Advent your\u00a0 intimacy with Christ grows to an ever-greater level. Be ready to allow the\u00a0 Spirit to turn your heart to him, to trust him in prayer.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share with others or ponder alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Describe those moments when you are alone with Christ. What\u00a0 is your prayer like? How is Christ a gift in your life?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Christ is present to us through one another. Give someone a\u00a0 gift today! Give them your time. This will be, like Mary\u2019s Gift, the gift of\u00a0 Christ.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mary, help me prepare to enter into ever deeper intimacy<br \/>\nwith Christ. Open my heart to receive your gift into my life. 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=1533&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":[741,1401,1293,1397,1400,1251,1399,45,889,1396,1337,818,820,1144,189,659,1210,1398,1395,882],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VlJd-oJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533"}],"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=1533"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2298,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions\/2298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}