{"id":9762,"date":"2025-12-19T21:51:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T20:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/2025\/12\/19\/advent-week-4\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T22:07:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T21:07:39","slug":"advent-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/2025\/12\/19\/advent-week-4\/","title":{"rendered":"ADVENT Week 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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4th week of Advent<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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beginning on Sunday, 21 December 2025<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The place of birth \u2013 in the manger in Bethlehem<\/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
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<\/h5>
Gospel passage<\/strong><\/h5>
Luke 2:7<\/h6>

\u201cAnd she gave birth to her firstborn son; she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>

1. Preparation<\/b><\/span><\/h5>

Lord, here we are at the gates of Bethlehem, at the end of our journey. The journey has been long. Grant me the grace of adoration. Silence within me all that is not You, so that I may contemplate the mystery of Your birth in silence and love. <\/span><\/p>

2. Composition of place<\/b><\/span>
<\/span><\/h5>

We have arrived. I enter the cave or stable. The air is cold and damp. I smell hay, straw and animals. I hear the breathing of the ox and the donkey, the soft cry of a newborn baby. The only light comes from a simple lantern, which gently illuminates the tired but peaceful faces of Mary and Joseph, and above all, the face of the Child. There is nothing spectacular, only the infinite tenderness of God in the most utter poverty. <\/span><\/p>

3. Contemplation<\/b><\/span>
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I let this sentence resonate within me: \u201cThere was no room for them.\u201d I reflect on the King of the universe, for whom the world was created, finding no place among his own. I contemplate God who does not impose himself. He chooses the lowest place, the manger, where the animals eat. It is the ultimate sign of his humility. He becomes food from the moment of his birth. I take time with the Child. He is totally dependent, vulnerable, and small. This is how God chooses to come and save us. Not through power or wealth, but through the weakness of a love that gives itself without reserve.
<\/span>And me? Is there room for Him in \u201cmy inn,\u201d that is, in my busy heart, in my overloaded diary, in my concerns? Am I ready to welcome Him, not into a palace of perfection, but into the \u201cmanger\u201d of my poverty, my weaknesses, my shortcomings? That is where He wants to be born. <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>

4. Colloquy<\/b><\/span>
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This is the moment of silent adoration. I simply remain there. I look at the Baby Jesus. I speak to him with my heart. “O my Jesus, my Saviour, I adore You. You, the Eternal Word, reduced to the silence of a baby. You, the Almighty, in the fragility of a newborn. Thank you for coming for me. Thank you for choosing poverty to enrich me. I have nothing to offer you but the poverty of my heart. Come and be born there. Make it your home.” I also speak to Mary and Joseph, thanking them for so kindly welcoming and protecting our Saviour. <\/span><\/p>

5. Resolution for the last few days before Christmas<\/b><\/span>
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Make space. Literally. Every day, find 10 minutes of complete silence, without your phone or distractions, to simply \u201cbe there\u201d for Him, like the ox and the donkey. Prepare a \u201cmanger\u201d in your heart by performing an act of poverty: give up something (a complaint, a criticism, a non-essential purchase) to offer this space to Jesus. <\/span><\/p>\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":"

During Advent, we invite you to take the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the company of a character from the nativity scene, preparing us to welcome the Baby Jesus. 4th week: The place of birth \u2013 in the manger in Bethlehem <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9762","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=9762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9763,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9762\/revisions\/9763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}