{"id":6508,"date":"2024-12-01T10:30:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/2024\/11\/29\/preparing-for-christmas\/"},"modified":"2024-12-02T09:46:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T08:46:48","slug":"preparing-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/2024\/12\/01\/preparing-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Why was a child born on a certain day in a certain part of the world, in a very small country, in a very small village?<\/p>\n

Our faith gives us an answer: by God’s decision. A decision taken from all eternity and realised at this moment in the history of the world. A decision by God to marry our humanity. <\/p>\n

In the booklet of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius of Loyola tells us about this decision, inviting us to enter into God’s gaze, how God looks at the world and \u201cforms the plan to come to him, and the Son becoming one of us to lead us to the fullness of divine life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

There are two ways of doing this:<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Praying with a newspaper<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

This is to enter into God’s plan and fight, along with him, through our intercession against the forces of destruction. The person who intercedes is like a soldier fighting with the other prayers of the world under the banner of Christ, the conqueror of evil. There is plenty to intercede for, given that (regrettably) the press often focuses on what is going wrong rather than on what is going right. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

But if you read a newspaper that doesn’t just report \u201cthe sound of burning forests but also the silence of growing trees,\u201d there is also cause for thanksgiving. So, look also at the beautiful things that can be reported, the actions of all those who act in the spirit of Christ (whether they are believers or not). So, give thanks for all the efforts towards the beautiful, the true and the just that newspapers can also report. <\/p>\n

Praying with the newspaper takes us out of ourselves, puts us off centre, and lets us experience a grace that St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Couderc can share with us, as she said:<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\u201cMy heart is as big as the world\u201d<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It allows us to contemplate the work of God, to look at the beauty and suffering, to listen to the joys and hopes of this world, it makes me attentive to God who is the creator and saviour of this world, it makes me interested in what interests God.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Praying with a Bible text<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

In the book of Exodus, Chapter 3: verses 7 to 10<\/p>\n

“07 The Lord said: \u2018I have seen, yes, I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cries under the blows of the overseers. Yes, I know their suffering. 08 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a beautiful and vast land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the place where the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites and the Jebusites live.09 Now the cry of the children of Israel has reached me, and I have seen the oppression they suffer at the hands of the Egyptians.10 Now therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.\u201d<\/h5>\n
1-Look at the face of God that this story reveals to us<\/h6>\n

God who does not resign himself to injustice, who sees misery, who listens to cries, who knows suffering. God who sees oppression. <\/p>\n

2-Look at God’s decision<\/h6>\n

He came down to deliver people and lead them to a country where life is good.<\/p>\n

3-Understand our mission<\/h6>\n

It’s not God who will do this, but us. God has no hands, he needs ours. God has a heart that he shares with us so that we can act according to his desire for freedom and the happiness he wants for everyone. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st week of Advent *** Prayer looking at the world according to the Ignatian method.
This prayer suggestion was prepared by Sr Mich\u00e8le Jeunet of the Province of Europe-Togo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritualite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6508"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6512,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508\/revisions\/6512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}