{"id":184,"date":"2011-09-08T10:23:30","date_gmt":"2011-09-08T15:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=184"},"modified":"2011-09-15T10:28:04","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T15:28:04","slug":"god-is-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"God is With Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Romans 8: 28-30; <\/span>Mt 1: 18-23<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Dc. Larry Brockman<\/o:o:p><\/h2>\n

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\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Yes, indeed- God is with us!\u00a0 <\/span>And what should be so very special to us is what that means.\u00a0 <\/span>You see, the incarnation- the fact that Jesus, consubstantial with the Father for all time, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and became man, is unique to Christianity, and offers us all tremendous hope.\u00a0 <\/span>God literally sent Himself, through His son, to be with us- that\u2019s what Jesus\u2019 name means, God is with us.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, we have the first hand example of how we should behave so that we are pleasing to God- we need just behave as Jesus did.\u00a0 <\/span>Because we can be sure that Jesus, true God and true man, is the ideal role model.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Now we also know that it is possible to be righteous in God\u2019s eyes because Jesus\u2019 mother Mary did not sin.\u00a0 <\/span>That is why God chose her to bear His son Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>So, if Mary can live a virtuous life, then theoretically, so could all of us.<\/font><\/p>\n

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You know, I have 4 children and 9 Grandchildren.\u00a0 <\/span>And I think sometimes about how much influence I have had as a parent, and continue to have as a Grandparent on my Children and Grandchildren.\u00a0 <\/span>It is a very sobering thought.\u00a0 <\/span>Because when we become Parents and Grandparents, we are directly responsible for the way our innocent Children and Grandchildren first learn about life.\u00a0 <\/span>They absorb everything we say and do; and they emulate what we say and do.\u00a0 <\/span>Our presence is essential for their well-being and their learning.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Jesus\u2019 mother, whose birth we celebrate today, had that kind of influence on Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>She taught Him everything about how to live as a human- all the same things that we have to teach our children.\u00a0 <\/span>Clearly, Mary\u2019s role in the life of Jesus was critical in that sense.\u00a0 <\/span>But even more to the point, think of the awesome responsibility that was.\u00a0 <\/span>Well, it is the same way for all of us- an awesome responsibility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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And yet the life of Jesus and the Gospel that tells His story should give us all hope.\u00a0 <\/span>And that hope is summarized in today\u2019s first reading.\u00a0 <\/span>If we can, as St. Paul puts it, love God as Jesus shows us in the Gospel and do His will, that is, live according to His purpose as Jesus did; then we are foreknown and predestined to be in the image of His son.\u00a0 <\/span>Our hope is that we have heard His call and responded to it.\u00a0 <\/span>We are called to a career, to a relationship; and to use certain talents; but in addition, for many of us- indeed most of us, we are called to raise a family. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Our hope is that by living our calls to do God\u2019s will according to the Gospel, we can know that we have been justified by Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>So that when we die, we will be Glorified in the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Romans 8: 28-30; Mt 1: 18-23 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 Yes, indeed- God is with us!\u00a0 And what should be so very special to us is what that means.\u00a0 You see, the incarnation- the fact that Jesus, consubstantial with the Father for all time, was conceived by the Holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[64,65],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}