{"id":1586,"date":"2013-12-23T01:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2013-12-03T09:45:26","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:45:26","slug":"spending-advent-with-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/?p=1586","title":{"rendered":"Spending Advent with Mary, the Mother of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<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=1586&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\"><br \/>\n<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<p>December 23, 2011 \u2502<br \/>\nMonday of the 4<sup>th<\/sup> Week of Advent<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Mary\u2019s \u201cYes\u201d<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Reflection<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At this point in Advent, we all know that Mary said \u201cyes\u201d when approached by Gabriel with the announcement that God had called her to be the mother of Jesus. Nonetheless, as we reflect once<br \/>\nagain upon this powerful moment of history, the question asked in Psalm 24 echoes in our hearts. \u201cWho can ascend the mountain of the Lord?\u201d We give the answer in faith, as we think about Mary\u2019s Yes. Only the one \u201cwhose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain\u201d can undertake a mission like Mary\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In our final preparations for the Feast of Christmas, we recall that Mary herself was conceived with a perfect grace. None of us has that same grace, and yet we are also called to bear Christ. We are called to bear him to others, and to a world hungry for truth and justice, for love and peace. We are also called to say \u201cYes\u201d and to mean it with all our hearts. Yes, I will bear Christ to this world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share with others or ponder alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In what way are you called to do this, to bear Christ to the world? It may be as a parent, a teacher, a farmer, or a friend. Or there may be any of a hundred other ways in which you are called.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the phone rings and someone asks for a favor, or when the parish calls for help in various ministries, or when you see a need that you know you could meet, say \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Prayer for today<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Give me the courage of my words, O God. Help me to say \u201cyes\u201d when I am called to serve the world. 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=1586&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":[741,1293,1453,1452,44,953,1450,1216,1337,818,820,1144,1335,1451,189,1448,659,1210,1449,1454],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VlJd-pA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586"}],"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=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2304,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/2304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nativitycatholicchurch.net\/adult_faith_life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}