December 10
Day 9: Daily Gracelines: ADVENTure with Mary
Theme: Advent is a time of faith. We believe that He will come to us, simply because He said He would. In trusting Him, we commit everything we are and have to His care and disposal, following in the footsteps of His dear Mother. In doing so, we exemplify faith in His promises.
Grace: I pray for the grace of faith during this holy Advent season, entrusting to Him my entire self. I surrender my will in exchange for His.
Reflection: "In the evening when you go to sleep, hold your beads, doze off reciting them, do like those babies who go to sleep mumbling, 'Mamma! Mamma!'" - St. Bernadette
Challenge: What a precious image: a baby falling asleep, knowing he or she is protected and cared for. Today, open your heart and mind to this image, but instead of a baby, place yourself in the arms of our Mother. How safe do you feel as you lie within Her care? Pray a few times, "Mamma! Mamma!"
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December 9
Day 8: Daily Gracelines: ADVENTure with Mary
Theme: Advent is a time of faith. We believe that He will come to us, simply because He said He would. In trusting Him, we commit everything we are and have to His care and disposal, following in the footsteps of His dear Mother. In doing so, we exemplify faith in His promises.
Grace: I pray for the grace of faith during this holy Advent season, entrusting to Him my entire self. I surrender my will in exchange for His.
Reflection: "Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith 'man freely commits his entire self to God.' For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. 'The righteous shall live by faith.' Living faith 'work[s] through charity.' -Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1814
Challenge: This week, we are challenged to grow in Faith, allowing God to transform the areas in our life enveloped in fear. Our Mother is the perfect example for us: she freely committed her "entire self to God." How can we allow her to encourage and support us as we grow deeper in Faith over the next several days?
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December 8
Day 7: Daily Gracelines: ADVENTure with Mary
Theme: Advent is a time of hope, filled with waiting and preparing for the coming of the Savior. Mary, the Mother of God, hopes in Him, placing all of herself at His disposal, awaiting His perfect arrival.
Grace: I pray for the grace of hope during this holy Advent season, anticipating with joy His will and surrendering to His timing.
Reflection: "Hail, full of grace. What do these words mean? The Evangelist Luke writes that Mary (Miriam), at these words spoken by the Angel, “was greatly troubled..., and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be” (Lk 1:29). These words express a singular election. Grace means a particular fullness of creation through which the being, who resembles God, participates in God’s own interior life. Grace means love and the gift of God himself, the completely free gift (“given gratuitously”) in which God entrusts to man his Mystery, giving him, at the same time, the capacity of being able to bear witness to the Mystery, of filling with it his human being, his life, his thoughts, his will and his heart.” -Pope St. John Paul II
Challenge Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. How is God calling you to bear witness to His Mystery, of filling with it his human being, his life, his thoughts, his will, and his heart? How is our perfect Mother the example for us of one who participated in God's own interior life?
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December 7
Day 6: Daily Gracelines: ADVENTure with Mary
Theme: Advent is a time of hope, filled with waiting and preparing for the coming of the Savior. Mary, the Mother of God, hopes in Him, placing all of herself at His disposal, awaiting His perfect arrival.
Grace: I pray for the grace of hope during this holy Advent season, anticipating with joy His will and surrendering to His timing.
Reflection: "Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence." -St. Francis de Sales
Challenge: Today, how can you "run" to our dear Mother? By throwing yourself into her arms, how are you demonstrating the virtue of hope, just as she threw herself in the arms of the Father? Mother, hold us close as we place all of our trust in our dear Father's perfect will!
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Former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, a devout pro-life Catholic who recently learned that her ocular cancer has spread to her liver and is now considered to be incurable, says she has made peace with the diagnosis.
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“
And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7)
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December 6
Day 5: Daily Gracelines: ADVENTure with Mary
Theme: Advent is a time of hope, filled with waiting and preparing for the coming of the Savior. Mary, the Mother of God, hopes in Him, placing all of herself at His disposal, awaiting His perfect arrival.
Grace: I pray for the grace of hope during this holy Advent season, anticipating with joy His will and surrendering to His timing.
Reflection: "Mary remained with her [Elizabeth] about three months and then returned to her home." - Luke 1:56
Challenge: Can you imagine how special it was for Elizabeth to have Mary stay with her for those three months? Picture their time together: how much hope do you think that He poured into their souls during such a precious time in their lives? What a joy! Who is God calling you to spend some extra time with this Advent season? Who needs you right now?
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In a moving tribute to the sanctity of life, a popular TV anchor announced that even though her unborn daughter has been diagnosed with a fatal condition, she will carry the child for as long as God wills.
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A new study on young adults who leave the Catholic Church has found that youth stop identifying as Catholic at a median age of 13 for reasons ranging from disbelief to dissatisfaction with Church teaching.
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Activists determined to strip any trace of Christianity from the public square ran into a brick wall in the town of Newaygo, Michigan where residents are rallying around a display of the three wise men that has sat atop a public elementary school for decades.\
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