{"id":469,"date":"2013-12-12T23:54:57","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T04:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=469"},"modified":"2014-01-01T23:57:31","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T04:57:31","slug":"the-three-joys-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=469","title":{"rendered":"The Three Joys of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent<\/span><\/h2>\n

Our Lady of Guadalupe<\/span><\/h2>\n

Zech 2: 14-17; Luke 1: 26-38<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cNothing will be impossible for God\u201d!\u00a0 These are the words from the Angel Gabriel to Mary when Mary asks how the predictions by the angel could happen.\u00a0 Mary went on to accept God\u2019s will for her and all that the Angel foretold happened because when it truly is God\u2019s will, it will happen as impossible as it may seem to us.\u00a0 And Mary has appeared to certain worthy persons throughout the History of Christianity pleading with her human brothers and sisters to believe in her son; to pray, to accept God\u2019s will, and to follow Jesus\u2019 Gospel accordingly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.\u00a0 In 1531, a humble 57 year old Mexican peasant named Juan Diego experienced one of those appearances from Mary.\u00a0 Mary was acting as a surrogate messenger for her Son Jesus.\u00a0 She told Juan this simple message:\u00a0 “My dear little son, I love you. \u00a0I desire you to know who I am. \u00a0I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. \u00a0He created all things. \u00a0He is in all places. \u00a0He is Lord of Heaven and Earth.\u201d\u00a0 Then she told Juan to go to the Bishop and report all he had heard and seen.\u00a0 Juan did as Mary asked him to do; and Juan followed in Mary\u2019s footsteps and did God\u2019s will for him.\u00a0 Juan and Mary\u2019s influence on Mexico as a result of that appearance is widely credited with the conversion of Mexico.\u00a0 Indeed, all things are possible for God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now we are in the middle of Advent.\u00a0 Advent is the season for us to wait joyfully for the coming the Lord at Christmas.\u00a0 We celebrate Jesus coming each year; and then continue during the rest of the Church year to complete our commemoration of our salvation history.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And so, we already know that Jesus really will come this Christmas- just as he has every Christmas of our lives; \u00a0we should already be rejoicing, because we know it happened.\u00a0 Jesus lived amongst us as one of us; suffered and died because he did God\u2019s will; and was raised from the dead into eternal life; a life he promised to share with all of us who believe in him, repent; and follow his Gospel.\u00a0 And in that certain knowledge that He will come; know also that he will come with a mission for us- the thing which he wills for each one of us to do- God\u2019s will for you.\u00a0 This is the time to reflect on that and to embrace God\u2019s will for you joyfully just like Mary did in our Gospel and just like Juan Diego did in 1531.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The joy we can experience from that kind of Advent reflection is threefold: first, joy over the reality of Jesus coming; and the promise of the second coming at the last Judgment where all of us who are Faithful will be rewarded with Everlasting Life; second, the joy of knowing that each of us was created for a purpose; for a mission; to do God\u2019s will; just like Mary and Juan Diego; and third, the joy of knowing that we can do it.\u00a0 Because nothing will be impossible for God!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent Our Lady of Guadalupe Zech 2: 14-17; Luke 1: 26-38 Dc. Larry Brockman \u201cNothing will be impossible for God\u201d!\u00a0 These are the words from the Angel Gabriel to Mary when Mary asks how the predictions by the angel could happen.\u00a0 Mary went on to accept God\u2019s will for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[263],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469"}],"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=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}