{"id":23873,"date":"2020-12-20T07:45:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T12:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=23873"},"modified":"2020-12-20T07:45:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T12:45:40","slug":"do-not-be-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/do-not-be-afraid\/","title":{"rendered":"Do not be afraid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year B<\/strong>
20\u00a0\u00a0December 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not be afraid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Collect:<\/strong> Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by Your daily visitation, that Your Son, Jesus Christ, at His coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection:<\/strong> This year is almost gone and on reflection, there is a surreal feeling about what humanity has had to endure in 2020, a year like no other. So many of us have been at the point of disbelief many times, this year as we are unable to comprehend and believe all that has happened and continues to happen to us and to the world in which we live. \u201cWhat\u2019s next Lord?\u201d we ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We struggle with the many times, this year, when our lives and our reality seem like fiction. Where do we find comfort and God\u2019s presence in these moments? Many of us are still in a state of perplexity despite our prayers and supplications to the God whose incarnation we celebrate at this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Mary\u2019s encounter with the angel, we see how God met Mary where she was. The moment when the angel Gabriel met Mary must have been very odd and uncomfortable for her. In real and practical terms, it was impossible for the young, innocent Mary to get out of the situation in which she found herself. God interrupts this reality and reveals Godself in an extraordinary way and Mary becomes the recipient of God\u2019s grace, as the angel reassures her, \u201cDo not be afraid, Mary: you have found favour with God.\u201d (Luke 1: 30 \u2013 31)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo not be afraid\u201d is a symbol of that everlasting love of God for one of the most wonderful parts of God\u2019s creation, humanity. \u201cDo not be afraid\u201d is very comforting as this command is God\u2019s assurance that He is in control, and He will be with us and provide us with the resources that we need to weather any storm. God\u2019s love for humanity is unconditional and eternal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo not be afraid\u201d when repeated in our time of great bewilderment, helps us to realize that God is always with us, despite how difficult and surreal the circumstances surrounding us may be. His powerful presence is all we need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meditation:<\/em><\/strong> In moments of despair; \u201cdo not be afraid\u201d is your password to God\u2019s love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer:<\/strong> <\/strong>God of surprising beginnings, help us to not be dismayed by the brokenness within us. Help us to see your amazing grace revealed in Your creation and be appreciative recipients of Your unconditional love, in Jesus\u2019 name, we pray. Amen. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year B20\u00a0\u00a0December 2020 Do not be afraid The Collect: Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by Your daily visitation, that Your Son, Jesus Christ, at His coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":23874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23875,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23873\/revisions\/23875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}