Tribulation Times
Christmas Week, 2014
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN IN EARLY JANUARY 2015, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM THE ZAMBRANO FAMILY! BLESSINGS FOR A JOYOUS NEW YEAR!
(Luk 1:31-33) Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
VATICAN.VA: MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2015
POPE FRANCIS (2013): The grace which was revealed in our world is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God. He has entered our history; he has shared our journey. He came to free us from darkness and to grant us light. In him was revealed the grace, the mercy, and the tender love of the Father: Jesus is Love incarnate. He is not simply a teacher of wisdom, he is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history, who has pitched his tent in our midst.
LINK: CHRISTMAS PROCLAMATION
ALETEIA: The Best Christmas Music You've Never Heard: Goosebumps Guaranteed , You've Never Heard "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" Like This Before
EXCERPT: Creighton University's Online Ministries
Some of us, might be really looking forward to Christmas, and not be aware of these struggles with Christmas, yet feel that, in spite of our best efforts to make Advent different this year, there is still something missing, and we still feel unready for Christmas.
For all of us, the story behind these days can draw us in, and invite us to bring our lives to the mystery of how Jesus came into this world and why. Our best preparation for the Holy Night ahead and the Joyful Morning to follow is for us to reflect upon how he came. He came in the midst of scandal and conflict. He came in poverty. He was rejected before he was born. He was born in a feed trough. He was hunted down. And he grew up in obscurity.
He did not shun our world and its poverty and conflict. He embraced it. And he desires to embrace us today, in this day. Right where we are. Right where we are feeling most distant. Right were we are feeling least “religious” or “ready.” If we let him come into our hearts to be our Savior these challenging days, we will find ourselves entering the sacred night and morning of Christmas “joyful and triumphant” as never before.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people.
We await your coming. Come, O Lord.
MEDITATION RON ROLHEISER,OMI: Keeping Watch With the Shepherds in Bethlehem
ARCHIVES, FR. ALTIER: Take the attitude of our Blessed Lady, not to be looking for anything, not to seek anything for herself. Here she is the highest creature that God ever made and she put herself as the lowliest of all, not in any kind of false humility, but in true humility. She literally and truly saw herself as being less than everyone else. That is what we have to do. We need to see ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ. If we see ourselves in the light of Christ then we will recognize that we are quite lowly, and then we can actually do His Will.
That is what we need more than ever. The Church has always needed people who would do the Will of God–they are called saints. Whether they are the ordinary saints who are going to be the mothers and fathers and just the average person grunting out his daily work, or whether that is going to be the saints that we all know who do extraordinary and heroic things, it does not matter. All that matters is that we do God’s Will. That is all that matters. We are not going to be judged in the end by how much money we made, or by how many heroic things we did; we are going to be judged by how well we did the Will of God. That is all.
And so God is going to ask each one of us to do something that will seem impossible for us to do, but we have the assurance that God will strengthen us according to the Gospel. We have the assurance of His grace. And we have the assurance of the angel that nothing is impossible for God, even to make us saints. Nothing is impossible for God. The only question is our disposition, and we learn from our Blessed Lady what it needs to be: Behold the humble handmaiden of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.
The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Sober Living
5. Allois said, 'Until you can say in your heart, "only I and God are in the world," you will not be at peace.'
Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
Christmas Week, 2014
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN IN EARLY JANUARY 2015, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM THE ZAMBRANO FAMILY! BLESSINGS FOR A JOYOUS NEW YEAR!
(Luk 1:31-33) Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
VATICAN.VA: MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2015
POPE FRANCIS (2013): The grace which was revealed in our world is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God. He has entered our history; he has shared our journey. He came to free us from darkness and to grant us light. In him was revealed the grace, the mercy, and the tender love of the Father: Jesus is Love incarnate. He is not simply a teacher of wisdom, he is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history, who has pitched his tent in our midst.
LINK: CHRISTMAS PROCLAMATION
ALETEIA: The Best Christmas Music You've Never Heard: Goosebumps Guaranteed , You've Never Heard "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" Like This Before
EXCERPT: Creighton University's Online Ministries
Some of us, might be really looking forward to Christmas, and not be aware of these struggles with Christmas, yet feel that, in spite of our best efforts to make Advent different this year, there is still something missing, and we still feel unready for Christmas.
For all of us, the story behind these days can draw us in, and invite us to bring our lives to the mystery of how Jesus came into this world and why. Our best preparation for the Holy Night ahead and the Joyful Morning to follow is for us to reflect upon how he came. He came in the midst of scandal and conflict. He came in poverty. He was rejected before he was born. He was born in a feed trough. He was hunted down. And he grew up in obscurity.
He did not shun our world and its poverty and conflict. He embraced it. And he desires to embrace us today, in this day. Right where we are. Right where we are feeling most distant. Right were we are feeling least “religious” or “ready.” If we let him come into our hearts to be our Savior these challenging days, we will find ourselves entering the sacred night and morning of Christmas “joyful and triumphant” as never before.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and visit your people.
We await your coming. Come, O Lord.
MEDITATION RON ROLHEISER,OMI: Keeping Watch With the Shepherds in Bethlehem
ARCHIVES, FR. ALTIER: Take the attitude of our Blessed Lady, not to be looking for anything, not to seek anything for herself. Here she is the highest creature that God ever made and she put herself as the lowliest of all, not in any kind of false humility, but in true humility. She literally and truly saw herself as being less than everyone else. That is what we have to do. We need to see ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ. If we see ourselves in the light of Christ then we will recognize that we are quite lowly, and then we can actually do His Will.
That is what we need more than ever. The Church has always needed people who would do the Will of God–they are called saints. Whether they are the ordinary saints who are going to be the mothers and fathers and just the average person grunting out his daily work, or whether that is going to be the saints that we all know who do extraordinary and heroic things, it does not matter. All that matters is that we do God’s Will. That is all that matters. We are not going to be judged in the end by how much money we made, or by how many heroic things we did; we are going to be judged by how well we did the Will of God. That is all.
And so God is going to ask each one of us to do something that will seem impossible for us to do, but we have the assurance that God will strengthen us according to the Gospel. We have the assurance of His grace. And we have the assurance of the angel that nothing is impossible for God, even to make us saints. Nothing is impossible for God. The only question is our disposition, and we learn from our Blessed Lady what it needs to be: Behold the humble handmaiden of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.
The Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Sober Living
5. Allois said, 'Until you can say in your heart, "only I and God are in the world," you will not be at peace.'
Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
This month's archive can be found at: http://www.
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