Enjoy today's Pause+Pray in honor of St. Andrew! 😇
November 21, 2024
Dear John,
Peace and good to you! I want to always start by saying: We are so appreciative of our donors. There is no Franciscan Media without you. This is the ninth day of our Rebuilding God’s Church, $125K match campaign today. This campaign will run through Easter of next year. We have 149 days left! Click here to make a donation.
The vision for Rebuilding God’s Church (RGC) is that it would be an online evangelization pathway—a pilgrimage of sorts. RGC includes the following four themes: Rediscovering God, Healing Our Relationships with God and Others, Listening to God, and Following God. These are universal themes (or moments) of adult evangelization.
Our Minute Meditation today reminds us that love nourishes our souls. This truth relates to the first theme of our Rebuilding God’s Church initiative: Rediscovering God. We need to rediscover God’s love before we can move along our faith journey. I say “rediscover” because God’s love has always been there for us. We either don’t believe that or know that, or we aren’t looking for examples of it in our daily lives. Imagine if someone needed to know this truth, and by visiting our website, they would be connected to a collection of resources that help them rediscover God’s love. This is what we want to do at Franciscan Media.
If you would like to speak to me directly to find out more about this campaign and how to become a major supporter, please contact me at mhalbach@franciscanmedia.org.
May God bless you and continue to help you rebuild your faith upon the foundation of his great love for you!
With profound gratitude,
Deacon Matthew Halbach, PhD President & Publisher,
Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.
As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature. In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was 3 years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.
Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond.
Reflection
It is sometimes difficult for modern Westerners to appreciate a feast like this. The Eastern Church, however, was quite open to this feast and even somewhat insistent about celebrating it. Even though the feast has no basis in history, it stresses an important truth about Mary: From the beginning of her life, she was dedicated to God. She herself became a greater temple than any made by hands. God came to dwell in her in a marvelous manner and sanctified her for her unique role in God’s saving work. At the same time, the magnificence of Mary enriches her children. They—we—too are temples of God and sanctified in order that we might enjoy and share in God’s saving work.
Are you looking for a simple way to have a more meaningful Advent season with your family, youth group, or friends? Look no further!
Join author, Susan Hines-Brigger, and mom, Patty Crawford, on this daily Advent journey.
What makes a son good is not what he says to his father, but what he does after the fact by working in the fields (Matthew 21:28–31). What makes a disciple loyal is not that she says “Lord, Lord” and professes faith with words, but that she does the will of God (Matthew 7:21). What makes someone holy isn’t his well-planned life, but recognizing what is right and doing it (James 4:17).
To be Christian is to act in accord with the will of God after the example of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, one cannot determine for another whose side he or she is on. All God asks of us is that we recognize that following in the footprints of Jesus means recognizing the coming reign of God and doing something about it.
St. Andrew was right next to the Son of God when there wasn’t enough food to feed the crowd, and he fretted. This is me for so many situations. I often worry about not having enough. I try to remember St. Andrew’s anxiety, and it helps me to trust that all will be well. And it happens—the day goes by, and there was enough!
Pray
St. Andrew, please pray for me when I feel as though I don’t have enough: money, time, clothing, food, etc. Ask God to relieve my anxieties and help me to trust. Amen.
Act
What do you feel you need more of in your life? Remember St. Andrew’s worry about the lack of food for the crowd. See if you can shift your thoughts to: “It will work out; I will have enough.”
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Theresa Doyle-Nelson. Learn more here!
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