God of us all, thank you for the life of Miriam of Nazareth, who walked the earth over 2000 years ago. Thank you for blessing the world with Miriam’s son, Jesus, who grew in her womb, and whose life as…
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Great Joy for All People!
The night Gospel for the Nativity fo the Lord describes the evening Jesus was born. Images of the Holy Family come to mind — Joseph protecting Mary, Mary directing her energy inward for labor, and a beautiful baby boy emerging…
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Cooperate With Grace
For the fourth Sunday in Advent we read the Gospel story of how Mary travels to see her cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. What I appreciate about their interaction is the joy it expresses as they find themselves cooperating…
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What Should We Do?
The Gospel reading for the third Sunday of Advent opens with crowds asking John the Baptist “What should we do?” They must have had a longing for something more to even ask this, an anticipation of a better way of…
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God Comes to Us
In the Sunday Gospel of the second week of Advent, we learn about John the Baptist preaching. It says “the word of God came to John.” How wonderful it is to know that God is a seeker too, perhaps looking…
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Keep Your Heart Awake
In this first week of Advent, Sunday’s Gospel describes Jesus telling his disciples to pay attention to the signs all around them in order to be ready for the return of Christ. If we look at this reading, not with…
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Minimizing Harm
At any point in life we might find ourselves on a path of sacrificial love — the kind that, metaphorically speaking, requires one to stand in the crossfire of a bully to protect the vulnerable. Staying present amidst a deeply…
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The Fertile Ground of Brokenness
I don’t like being hurt or feeling lost. I don’t like the agony of knowing that my path is leading to something painful. I don’t like the burden of dying to self so that some hoped-for greater good can live…
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Live Into the Answers
On a regular basis we human beings find ourselves at decision points of all sizes. We wonder which way to go and if the stakes our high we might agonize over selecting a path forward. Recently I heard a teaching…
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Tune Into Your Body
There is a counselor I know who pays great attention to how the body holds experiences. In conversation with her, I gained an entry-level understanding into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is basically the fight…
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