A reading of the holy Gospel according to Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relation with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.I wonder when I read this what the difference was between how Mary asked "How can this be?" and how Zechariah asked "How shall I know this?" Mary was reassured, while Zechariah was struck dumb for his doubt of Gabriel. I think that if the Angel Gabriel came to me, I would just nod and do whatever he said. I would be so afraid! I wonder if he would say to me "Be not afraid..." I certainly hope so!
We have only four more days of Advent. I intended this blog to be a trial, and had hoped that I would continue after Christmas. I am not sure there is any point in this blog. There are such wonderful Catholic writers blogging. They far surpass me in knowledge and writing ability. I don't know that my blog serves any purpose at all. I will pray this week about whether or not I should continue.
And I will thank anyone who has been kind enough to read and comment.
Do the blog for yourself first and the readers will come. I know, at least in my case, my blog has been really helpful in allowing me to sort things out. Writing forces me to think through the things that come to my mind and to justify them. Writing makes me take my thoughts apart and then to reassemble them into a cohesive whole. It's great that others read it but it's not the primary reason I do it.
ReplyDeleteTry applying your faith to the things that occur around you and writing about it. Question the things that you hear every day and hold them up to Church teachings. We know that abortion is wrong but what about the actions of your local alderman? Is he proposing something that just seems wrong to you? Hold his actions up, not to common sense, but Catholic sense.
I guarantee you'll learn more about the faith and how you should live it than you ever will reading the Catechism divorced from reality. It's cool to see the truth played out in real time and it really, at least in my case, strengthens my faith.
And you never know; you may have an insight that will set someone on a new and better course. Your words could change a life.
I was just about to reply to your post when I read the comment from Catawissa Gazetter. I was thinking along exactly the same lines.
ReplyDeleteFor me, your posts have encouraged me on this Advent journey as I struggle with what this Christian hope business is all about. If you do decide to stop blogging perhaps you could start a Lent Journey later on and capture our hearts again.
When you blog you pray three times :)
I'm in agreement with the others - a blog is for you and if the readers are interested, so be it. But you have to derive pleasure out of it. All I can say is that I've grown attached to stopping by and reading what you have to say. If blogging every day is too much of a chore, do it at the pace you feel comfortable with. As the angel Gabriel says, "do not be afraid." ;)
ReplyDeleteWhatever your decision, thank you for these four weeks. I've enjoyed your posts.
Don't stop. I have been reading your network of friends and followers for a bit now, in fact I look forward to reading you every day,checking back to see if there are comments and then jumping over to read some of the blogs you follow and then the ones they follow. You never know who you may be helping without knowing it. Perhaps you could continue with the daily readings and open discussions on how they might pertain to things today.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add this too. I have never made the effort to find and read the daily readings, not until you started with this blog. I wonder how many others you have or will touch if you continue?
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. I was actually thinking about stopping the daily reading. It is such a lot of typing! Maybe I will change my mind...
ReplyDeleteI haven't known how to write this - should it be personal, should I keep my own personality out of it?
I think I will likely go forward, but change it a bit.
Thanks again. I really appreciate you all.
You can copy and paste the daily readings. Tom (Catawissa) said EWTN posts them and perhaps Catholic Exchange, then you can give a commentary. I would keep it very personal. I think that is why I don't look them up myself, they would just be a posting and people read you for your personality. Tom said you should put even more of your personality into it, I think his exact words were "slather it up"! :)
ReplyDeletePlease continue. Your posts are very beautiful
ReplyDelete