Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent

We do not think ourselves into a new way of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking. Without action and lifestyle decisions, without concrete practices, words are dangerous and largely illusory.

We can’t manage, maneuver or manipulate spiritual energy. It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely.

we tend to localize evil in our bodies more than in our mind,

Authentic God encounters make us all spiritually fertile and humanly connected.

Mary’s “yes” was said in the darkness of faith. She was not certain, nor assured by any Scripture quote, doctrine or pope. She just heard what she heard, and did what God asked her to do, accepting the consequences.

What we don’t have is the rest of our lives because we do not even have the now of our lives.

Once we know that God lives inside our contradictions, and God’s love is not dependent on our perfection, then other peoples’ contradictions don’t scandalize us or surprise us anymore.

Our attachments to power, prestige and possessions are obstacles to God’s coming.

The Spirit always connects, reconciles, forgives, heals and makes two into one. It moves beyond human-made boundaries to utterly realign and renew that which is separated and alienated.