Prayer Reflection from your Prayer Fraternity

Prayer reflection & a thought for Advent - 4th Sunday

 

"PRAYER is not asking for what you think you want,

but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine."
                      (Kathleen Norris)

 

 

Fr. George Smiga, writing for the Living with Christ missalette, December issue, offers a reflection for us on the Gospel of Matthew's account of Jesus' birth we read on this Sunday;  it's one further reflection on Kathleen Norris' quote above:

 

"Matthew devotes the majority of his narration not to the main event of Jesus' birth, but to all the unusual circumstances within Jesus' family:  Mary's inexplicable pregnancy, and Joseph's struggle to deal with it.

 

Matthew's approach is instructive to us during the holiday season.  It calls us to look for God in the margins of our activities.

 

Throughout this month we will gather with family and friends.  Our focus will tend to be on the meals, gifts, and customs of the season.  But the people with whom we gather will bring with them their own issues, and many of them will be difficult.   Sickness, hurt, economic hardship, or grief may well be gathered in our homes.  God is calling us to be attentive to such burdens.

 

Like Joseph we must trust that God will be found in strange and uncomfortable places.  Even when circumstances are new and difficult, we must trust they are part of God's plan.  The places we must leave are seldom recoverable.  But God can be found in new places. 

 

Matthew's account of Jesus' birth assures every believer that God is not restricted to main events or routine places.   God is also present in the margins and foreign parts of our lives."