{"id":1870,"date":"2020-11-29T12:55:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T12:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/?p=1870"},"modified":"2022-07-15T16:59:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T16:59:13","slug":"advent-reflections-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/advent-reflections-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent Reflections 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The 4<sup>th<\/sup> Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s readings invite us to contemplate with Mary the amazing truth\u00a0 beautifully described in Bob Hurd\u2019s song, <em>Be it done unto me<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can you who encompass all things be encompassed by me?<br \/>\nIn whose image I\u2019m wondrously made, be made, then, of me.<\/p>\n<p>This my body and this my blood: take and receive.<br \/>\nThey are you now, O child of my womb. O fruit of my tree.\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>The 3<sup>rd<\/sup> Sunday of Advent \u2013 Gaudete<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>REJOICE &#8211; the message given to Thessalonians and to us,<br \/>\neven in this time of global dislocation.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.<\/em><em><br \/>\nIn all circumstances give thanks.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Wisdom figures in all contemplative traditions offer the same remedy and advice \u2013 and presumably it flows from their deep experience.<\/p>\n<p>Let us pray \u2013 and perhaps, in the mystery of Love, be the answer to the prayer of others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The familiar words from the prophet (and poet) Isaiah have extra resonance this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Comfort, give comfort to my people,<br \/>\nsays your God.<br \/>\nSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jesus said to his disciples:<br \/>\n\u201cBe watchful! Be alert!<br \/>\nMt 13:33<\/p>\n<p>Cornelia Connelly was keen for children &#8211; and their teachers \u2013<br \/>\nto look, to draw, to contemplate, to be attentive to the world,<br \/>\nto find God incarnate \u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>how ordinary<br \/>\nextraordinary things are or<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>how extraordinary ordinary<\/em><br \/>\n<em>things are, like the nature of the mind<\/em><br \/>\n<em>and the process of observing<\/em><br \/>\nNorman Nicholson<\/p>\n<p>May we look carefully at \u2018ordinary\u2019 things and people this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":385,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/african\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}