{"id":333,"date":"2015-12-21T19:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/?p=333"},"modified":"2015-12-21T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T19:00:48","slug":"advent-2015-week-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/advent-2015-week-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent 2015: Week Four"},"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\/6YddwBhlxZ4?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 normal breathing. 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 time of 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 Visitor<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine you\u2019re sitting on the sofa. It\u2019s been a tiring day of meetings and appointments. You decide to sit on the sofa for a half an hour to catch your breath. As you sit there, you pick up your book from the coffee table. It\u2019s about the saints. You\u2019ve been reading one saint story a day during this season of Advent. You\u2019re hoping to gain some insight into how these men and women lived and believed so you can bring that into your own life. But they all seem so heroic in a way you could never be. You open the book and allow it to take you anywhere. You settle in to read the section, but you hear someone at the door. <em>I\u2019m not expecting anyone<\/em>, you think.<\/p>\n<p>When you open the door, you see a young man standing there. He is looking down at the ground. He is holding his hands gently in front of him, his fingers wrapped around each other. <em>Kids selling candy again<\/em>, you think. \u201cCan I help you?\u201d\u009d you ask.<\/p>\n<p>He looks up at you. A slight smile comes across his face. \u201cI\u2019ve come to share some news with you. Good news. Important news,\u201d\u009d he says.<\/p>\n<p>You are puzzled. \u201cDo I know you?\u201d\u009d you ask.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, you don\u2019t. But I know you.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>This is feeling a little creepy<\/em>, you think. You begin to back up into the house. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. Please.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re not quite sure what\u2019s happening. You want to go inside, but something keeps you standing here. \u201cWhat do you want to tell me?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The man continues to look down. Slowly he raises his head, smiles, and says, \u201cGod wants you to bring his voice into your world. In the place you work, in your home, wherever you go, God wants you to bring his news of hope to all.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs this a joke?\u201d\u009d you ask him. \u201cWho put you up to this? My brother?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p>He continues to look down with peace and calm. He raises his face, and your eyes meet. He smiles, turns, and walks away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWait a minute. You didn\u2019t answer my question. Who put you up to this?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<p>He turns, looks at you and points to his heart, and then disappears into the rows and rows of houses.<\/p>\n<p><b>Scripture Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;line-height: 1.71429\">Luke 1:26-38 &#8211; The Lord desires to speak to those who listen. What would that experience be like? \u00a0<\/span><\/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>Video image: <em>The Annunciation<\/em> by John Collier. Used with permission. All rights reserved. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hillstream.com\/\">Hillstream.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; See more at: http:\/\/www.ignatianspirituality.com\/20106\/arts-faith-advent-fourth-sunday-imaginative-prayer-exercise-2#sthash.So9qTLfK.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-333","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-5n","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","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=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charis.calvarylogos.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}