December 7, 2014

Read It:
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest."

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

Reflect on It: In today's gospel, we hear that we have received without cost and are to give without cost as well. Are we people who count what we receive? I think that often, we have to consider if we count when we receive. As the world focuses on Christmas, we tend to look at what we're getting. The Lord of the Universe calls us to give without cost. We have received everything with no cost, including the Christ Child. He is all we need and now in turn we go to serve him. Are we wrapped up in finding the perfect gift this season. Give in a different way, give without cost. Give your entire life to Christ.

Pray about It: Lord, everything I have is yours. Help me this day to give without cost.

Live It! Challenge: Figure out an item that you can live without this Advent and donate it to a local charity. (This one is hard, but we can do it together!) Then say a prayer for the person who will receive it.

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December 6, 2014: The Feast Day of St. Nicholas

The Feast Day of St. Nicholas:

Read It:
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Reflect on It:
Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give...I think sometimes this piece of Scripture trips me up more than any other. Without cost, I'm called to give: of my time, of my life, of all sorts of things....I have been given so much and I should be giving even more. What have you been given without cost?

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, the harvest is abundant, and the laborers are few. Help me always to give myself to you without counting the cost, because your burden is light and your yoke is easy. Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, cross off one item from your Christmas list that you really, really want. Instead give something to someone else.

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December 5, 2014

Read It:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

Reflect on It:
Often, I'm really concerned about how I will approach particular conversations, mainly because I have to speak the truth, or because I know they'll be hard. I love today's gospel, because it's a promise from the Holy Spirit that he'll be there with me when I need him. Before I start a difficult conversation, I pray to the Holy Spirit to be with me. Today, we can take heart that the Holy Spirit will be with us when it's hard to witness to the truth.

Pray about It:
Holy Spirit, you promise to always give us the words to say when we're unsure. Be with us today so that we can speak the truth in love! I love you Lord! Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Have a difficult conversation that you've been avoiding.

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December 4, 2014

Read It:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

Reflect on It: What is interesting about today's gospel is not that it says if the rain comes, it says, "The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew". Here is some breaking news: There will be rain. There will be floods and there will be wind! The Lord promises us all of these, but the important part is how you respond to them. One man, the wise man, built his house on rock (the rock...Jesus...it's all coming together now!) and the fool, built his on sand (things of this world). The goal is not for us to be completely ruined when the rain and wind and floods come. Christ, our king is coming in three weeks. Are we built on Him? Will this rock our world? It should. Work to build your life on the rock.

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, help us to be wise men and women who build our lives on you. Let us be strong enough to not have our lives be completely ruined when the rain, floods and wind comes. Thank you for being who I build my life upon.

Live It! Challenge: Eliminate something in your life that makes you be built on the sand.

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December 3, 2014

Read It:

At that time:
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way."
The disciples said to him,
"Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?"
Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"
"Seven," they replied, "and a few fish."
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over--seven baskets full.

Reflect on It:
It always makes me laugh that the disciples doubt whether or not Jesus can feed everyone in the crowds. They constantly doubt and are unsure about what he can do. Jesus loves them and meets his disciples with care, basically showing them his love. I would get so frustrated. Good thing I am not God. Today, let's trust that Jesus is in control of all the things in our lives.

Pray about it:
Holy Spirit, help me to trust that you can do anything in me. Help me to be open to the ways you want to break through to me today. Help me to love you more deeply this Advent Season.

Live It! Challenge: Today, give God something you've been holding out on. Let him take care of it.

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First Tuesday of Advent: December 2, 2014

Read It:

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
"I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

Turning to the disciples in private he said,
"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."

Reflect on It:
We know of the goodness of God. Blessed are we to see Christ in the Eucharist, to hear his word. So many people desire that relationship with Christ, but don't have it. We are blessed to be those people. As we ponder Advent in our hearts, let's be people who desire a deeper, bigger, crazy awesome relationship with Christ.


Pray About It: God our Father, help me to have a better and deeper relationship with your son this Advent season. I love you Lord. Help me to desire you always.


Live it! Challenge: Spend five minutes today going to before the Lord in the Eucharist.

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First Monday of Advent: December 1, 2014

Read It:
When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, "Go," and he goes;
and to another, "Come here," and he comes;
and to my slave, "Do this," and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.

Reflect on it: In this gospel, we see the words that we say in the Eucharistic prayer as our response: Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, only say the word and my soul shall be healed. On this first Monday of Advent, we see that we are HARDLY worthy to have the Lord enter our hearts and our lives this Christmas, which leads to the question of if you have prepared a place in your heart for him? As we Christmas approaches, is there space? Are we preparing for him the way we would prepare for any other guest? I hope so.

Pray about it: Sweet Jesus, as Advent starts, help me to realize how truly good you are to want to enter under my roof and it means to have you as an active part of my life. Help me to be ready and to watch for you this Advent.

Live It! Challenge: Today, pray about what the Lord is asking you to do to prepare for his coming.

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