{"id":329,"date":"2015-12-06T13:43:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T13:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/?p=329"},"modified":"2015-12-06T13:43:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T13:43:59","slug":"advent-2015-week-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/advent-2015-week-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent 2015: Week Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DtZP76wvsTE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Preparation<\/h2>\n<p>As we begin this time of quiet prayer, I invite you to find a comfortable place to sit with your back straight and your legs planted on the ground. Allow yourself to notice your breathing as you breathe normally. Breathe in. Breathe out.<\/p>\n<p>Take a few moments and close your eyes, preparing yourself to listen to what God may be saying to you during this prayer. As you sit with your eyes closed, use these or similar words: \u201cHere I am, Lord. Here I am.\u201d\u009d When you are ready, open your eyes and pray.<\/p>\n<h2>The Man Attracting a Crowd<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine you are walking along a tree-lined path in your favorite park. It\u2019s a beautiful day with the sun shining in a clear blue sky. You are smiling as you feel the sun on your face and listen to the birds singing. But your heart is heavy. You need to make a decision, and you are unsure what to do. You begin praying. <em>Dear God, please be with me this day. I\u2019m not sure what I need to do. It feels so difficult. Help me see your will in my life.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As you walk, you notice a large crowd of people. They are standing, sitting, and some have even climbed up the trees and are hanging from the limbs. As you approach, you strain to see what they are looking at. You try to see over the shoulders of those standing, but it\u2019s hard. Finally, you notice a clear spot to see what\u2019s happening. You have to stand on your toes, but you see an unusual man standing at the center of the scene. He is surrounded by the crowd, who are all facing him, listening to what he is saying. Something is drawing you to him. You gently move through the crowd who lets you pass. You find yourself standing at the edge of the circle in front of the man. He has a strange look about him. His clothes are torn and dirty. <em>Why are so many people listening to him?<\/em> You wonder.<\/p>\n<p>As you stand there, you hear his voice, but the words are unclear to you. You try to listen harder, but you still cannot make out what he says. Then, as if he knew you were straining to hear him, his eyes look directly into yours. His eyes are dark and mysterious. There is something in his eyes that speaks to you more than the words he\u2019s saying. You feel so safe in his gaze. A deep feeling of peace comes over you. He continues to look at you as you hear him say, <strong>\u201cYou are looking for the path to follow. Jesus has shown you the way. Follow him. Listen to his voice deep inside you. He walks the path with you.\u201d\u009d<\/strong> His eyes continue to look at you. You feel the tears running down your cheeks. <em>Thank you. Thank you<\/em>, you say in a soft whisper. You move through the crowd, your heart lighter. Now you see the path before you.<\/p>\n<h2>Scripture Reading<\/h2>\n<p>Mark 1:1-8 &#8211; \u00a0John the Baptist knows who Jesus is, and who he is in relation to Jesus. What about you? How would you see Jesus and yourself?<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 1.28571rem;line-height: 1.6\">Concluding Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Glory be to the Father,<br \/>\nand to the Son,<br \/>\nand to the Holy Spirit.<br \/>\nAs it was in the beginning,<br \/>\nis now, and ever shall be,<br \/>\nworld without end.<br \/>\nAmen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; See more at: http:\/\/www.ignatianspirituality.com\/20054\/arts-faith-advent-second-sunday-imaginative-prayer-exercise-2#sthash.Fmbid9sJ.dpuf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preparation As we begin this time of quiet prayer, I invite you to find a comfortable place to sit with your back straight and your legs planted on the ground&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8e1fr-5j","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}