{"id":498,"date":"2023-12-23T04:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T04:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=498"},"modified":"2025-09-28T04:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:20:24","slug":"an-advewnt-meditation-from-my-friend-theresa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=498","title":{"rendered":"An Advent meditation from my friend Theresa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hope<\/a><\/strong>I lifted this whole thing from the Reclaiming Our Children blog on the Entering Canaan website. <\/em><\/p>\n

Here is the link – <\/strong>ROC blog<\/a> Theresa is a close friend of Brigid and myself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something really struck me this morning at my Holy Hour, I do not like the Advent\/ Christmas Season. Instead of drawing closer to God I often find myself really struggling to stay in His presence. Prayer can even become a difficult task as the he<\/span>aviness of the world seems to come upon me. It just seems that Christmas has become about everything but God.<\/p>\n

It is a real feat to find a Christmas card that has anything to do with the birth of Christ. <\/span><\/p>\n

A drive through the neighborhoods to look at decorations leaves you hard pressed to even find a nativity scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

The stores are merry and bright in all the secular ways as they rake in the big bucks capitalizing on the feelings of some that they have to get the perfect gift even if it means being in debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, there is the rushing around in a frenzy, and of course, the sometimes difficult task of spending it with those who have little thought of what Christmas really is, and  whose beliefs are very different from yours. It can sometimes feel like they are infringing on your territory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, for me, as a woman who has had an abortion, it can still stir up painful feeling as the devil tries to get me to focus on my sin, how far I was from the trust of Mary, the loss of my son, the empty place at the table, the toys not brought by Santa. The empty place in my mother\u2019s soul, especially since this is near the time of year when my abortion occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I was sharing my heart (and complaining) to Jesus He reminded me once again\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

and ransom captive Israel<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

that mourns in lonely exile here<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

until the Son of God appear.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Life on earth is a lonely exile. God with us, Emmanuel, was born to set us free from our sins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA Thrill of Hope the weary world rejoices\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Lord knows our world is very weary right now, with wars, and abortion, lies portrayed as truth and so much discord everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then in a moment my prayer changed!<\/span><\/p>\n

I recognized I am in His presence, even when I struggle or when the heaviness of the world comes upon me. <\/span><\/p>\n

In truth I love the Advent\/Christmas season because Christ is born, Christ who is our HOPE. Christ who ransoms us and is Mercy Himself. Christ who fills our loneliness with His love and heals and forgives.<\/span><\/p>\n

May the light of Christ our Hope permeate you and yours this blessed season. <\/span><\/p>\n

Theresa<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I lifted this whole thing from the Reclaiming Our Children blog on the Entering Canaan website. Here is the link – ROC blog Theresa is a close friend of Brigid and myself. Something really struck me this morning at my Holy Hour, I do not like the Advent\/ Christmas Season. Instead of drawing closer to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5456,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/5456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}