Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent, by Richard Rohr, O.F.M. Franciscan Media, 2012.
"Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus," Richard Rohr asserts. Advent is a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on “the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ,” who challenges us to empty ourselves, to lose ourselves, to
surrender.
Richard
Rohr’s Scriptural reflections for Advent are the perfect preparation for the Christmas season. This beautiful redesign provides daily reflections for the Advent season, along with each day's Scripture readings and questions for
reflection.
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Saint of the Week
St. Francis Xavier: (1506-52): December 3.
A native of the
Basque country, born in the castle of Xavier (or Javier) in Navarre, he met Ignatius of Loyola in Paris and was one of the original group who took vows in 1534 to form the beginnings of the Jesuits. In 1541 he sailed to Goa on the West coast of India, for many centuries a Portuguese colony, to evangelize the Indies. His journeys took him to Malaya and Ceylon; everywhere he lived a life of extreme simplicity and made many converts from low-caste natives. In 1549 he reached Japan and wanted
to meet the Mikado, but tradition required that he offered a present which he could not possibly afford, so the meeting never took place until, with the support of his Order, he was able to come dressed in finery and with suitable gifts. He sowed the seeds of Japanese Christianity which in the 17th. century were to grow and resist savage persecution. He longed to visit China, but fell ill and died in 1552 on the island of Chang-Shuen-Shan off the Chinese mainland. His shrine is in Goa, though
some of his relics are in the Gesu in Rome. He was declared Patron Saint of the Foreign missions in 1927.
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The special spiritual gifts given to the church. They are for edifying and building up the church. They
are mentioned in Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12, and 1 Cor. 14: Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked the
young programmer, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"
The programmer said, "In the neighborhood of $75,000 a year, depending on the benefit's package."
The HR Person said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company Corvette leased every 2 years?"
The programmer sat up straight and
said, "Wow!!! Are you kidding?"
The HR Person replied, "Certainly, ...but you started it."
