Thursday of the Third Week of Advent 18-12-14
Gospel: Matthew 1:21
‘She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins..
Reflection: Reaching out
Have you ever seen someone trying to reach someone out of their reach? They really stretch the arm to its limit to reach the person who is in need of help, or free an animal stuck in a ditch. Every breath and sinew of the body is focused on stretching those last few millimetres of distance to bridge the gap.
God’s desire to help us is like that, and so we pray to be reached by the outstretched arm of God. Sometimes we don’t recognise it as God stretching.
You will know you have been truly purified when you can look at Jesus crucified all you can feel is God’s pain, and not yours.
Reaching from the heights of heaven to the depths of earth, there is pain in the stretching of the arm,
pain in the birth of Jesus.
There is the pain of God again in the daily life of Jesus and again in the his death.
God wants so much to bring us to life, truth and to love. That is why God allows it and Jesus comes among us. It all begins of Christmas and the reason for it becomes clearer each day for the thirty three years he lived among us in the flesh. Finally he stretched his arms on the cross and died on Calvary. God loves us this much.
Prayer:
Born to Mary, you will be raised by the Father.
Born in poverty, you will be raised in glory.
Come to birth, Jesus, in our love for each other.
Please offer a prayer today for those :
who are economic exiles and not make it home for Christmas:
Volunteer missionaries – medical, social, military or religious,
who are sick in hospitals, nursing homes, prison,
refugees, immigrants, or their job simply does not allow it.
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Our thanks to all those who helped, were quoted or whose pictures we used in th making of this site.
Our thanks especially to Donal Neary SJ for the use/adaptation of the text of his booklet,
‘Praying in Advent’.
Columba Press
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