Thursday, December 31, 2009
“God of grace and glory” is how we addressed God in yesterday’s prayer. Now let us look back over the whole year. Where have you noticed grace at work in your life?
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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Luke throughout his gospel parallels a man with a woman. Perhaps because Anna, called a prophet, is 84 years old, we imagine Simeon to be old as well. “She never left the temple” is an overstatement;
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Art work can distort the scriptures. For example, the Annunciation, most of us would say, was made to Mary by Gabriel. Right, in Luke’s gospel, but not in Matthew’s where Joseph receives the annunciation.
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Sunday, December 27, 2009
A shadow of the cross falls across this Christmas feast. Mary belonged to two different families, the one with Joseph and Jesus, celebrated today; the one celebrated in Eucharist every day, when Jesus, lifted up, “gathers into one new family all the scattered children of God (Jn 11: 52). We are the new family and Mary is our mother.
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Saturday, December 26, 2009
The gospel is taken from Jesus’ missionary sermon, fitting for the One whom God sent into the world. Stephen never was a missionary, but his death sparked the first missionary movement. Christians, except the apostles, fled in various directions, bringing the good news with them. Why Stephen so enraged the Sanhedrin is that missing piece between our two selections for today. Stephen speaks against the Temple, arguing that we have a tenting God, not one whom we can capture in a building.
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