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It is definitely over-commercialised these days and Jesus has been delicately removed from everywhere, its not even called Christmas now on TV its mostly X-mas for fear of offending the secular world with 'Christ' and spoiling the chance for a good none-denominational piss-up.
That aside you can have the most amazing time just celebrating it in your own way! Buy yourself the Mystical City of God which gives the whole untold story of the Holy Family. Read about the actual cave this miracle occurred in, the absolute poverty of their situation and the incredible night it finally happened!
If you have a family then just celebrate it in a loving way, if they are not religious that's fine, you do the heavy lifting in private for them, just rejoice in their company and they can meet Jesus through you. I absolutely love Christmas, its so special, so much grace is given at this most glorious of days.
Try to imagine, a world desolate and lost, hope in a saviour has all but died, sin is commonplace and only a few still hold the faith in their hearts...shouldn't be too hard to imagine a world like that, then that beautiful night God actually becomes man and is born in the most humble way, a filthy cave used by herdsmen to store hay and occasional shelter. Suddenly there is hope in the world, a saviour has come to free us from sin and to lead us back to heaven, back to paradise. No more fear of death, we get to inherit eternal crowns in the new Eden.
If we pray the Joyful Mysteries rosary we get transported spiritually to that actual cave in a mystical way, we can actually be present when He is born. Do this on Christmas Eve it will be the most beautiful 30 minutes.
Try and find The Nativity Story to watch at this time too its really nicely done. God bless 😀
From The Mystical City of God Mary was a 'Temple Virgin' given over to live her life worshipping God and made a vow to keep her virginity. This was why she was so taken back when St Gabriele visited her saying she would conceive a child, she asked for clarification, "How can this be as I have not known man?". Both her parents died when she was in the temple and she was not present for this.
The lady in charge of her at the temple, Anne, was the very same who she met with Simeon by then at a very old age.
Mary was, 'Full of grace' as the angel knew when he greeted her, "Hail (hello), full of grace" he actually used that term in replace of her actual name. She was full of grace meaning God was with her completely and no sin was in her.
Original Sin was the ancestral sin passed down through all generations from our first parents Adam and Eve. Mary was preserved from this by a unique grace as God could not dwell inside a dirty tabernacle. In the Old Testament you see God is very strict over the Ark of the Covenant, His temporary dwelling on earth, even to touch the outside was a death sentence. It had to be Immaculate and thus Mary who was the New Ark of the Covenant had to be Immaculate herself.
I could go all night but I have work. God bless you and the Holy Spirit guide you in your talk.
In The Mystical City of God the age of the earth is given around 7000 years or so. The church doesn't give a firm teaching and the bible isn't a factual history book, it's made up of a lot of stories, prophetic dreams, songs and some real events all mixed in.
The New Jerusalem was Our Lady descending from heaven, St John saw this but had to write it in way to remain cryptic. At the time the early Church was fragile and they could have easily started worshipping Mary as a god. During the Ascension Mary also ascended to heaven and was given the option to remain there or to continue the work on earth establishing the new church, she chose to return.
If you are really interested in the mysticism around it you should read The Mystical City of God its private revelation so you are not forced to believe it but it goes in to a lot more detail. God bless.
But the best deal is the $4.99 paperback. The perfect Christmas gift for all your rabid right wing Christian relatives and co-workers.
The Mystical City of God is a beautiful Marian resource by the way.
Why is Mary sent as the great envoy for humanity after the church was established in the early years? Marian devotion is global, Mary appears as a native to whichever apparition site she visits. Why does humanity have this need for God's mother to interact with the world despite the church on earth?
Could another creature ever attain the closeness to God that Mary enjoys?
Could we ever love Mary more than God? Is it easier to love Mary as a mother rather than an abstract God, is there a danger of this?
I love thinking about her :)
That sample seems to be from a book by William Nicoll, which is different than the multi-volume set that I own, in which the commentary about each Bible book is by a different author (for example, the Matthew commentary is by D.A. Carson), and the volumes also say "Frank Gaebelein, general editor" on the front. Each commentary section has various scholarly references and footnotes.
You can use the "Look Inside" feature on that Amazon page that I linked, to see what the contents are like.
> I have a funny feeling it's the sort of thing my Granda had in his bookshelf)
There have been three major versions - the first was published in the late 70s/early 80s, and has a beige color. The second, which I have, was published in the 90s, and has a black-and-blue color. The third version was published around 2010 and has a brown color.
The whole hardback set costs hundreds of dollars, but you could get ebooks of the latest edition, or used hardbacks of the earlier editions, for not too much.
Never been?
A "Bible" with nothing but Jesus' words from the 1800s.
Then again, you appear to be one of those silly Monarchists, so there's no point in arguing. You like being told what to do.
Definitely read St Bernadette and if you want an amazing 4 series book set read, The Mystical City of God. God bless :)
I had never prayed the rosary before (but had used prayer beads for the Jesus Prayer) when I inherited my late grandmother's rosary. On the 8-hour drive home a couple days after her funeral, I drove by a Catholic bookstore and decided to check it out.
I found this booklet on how to pray the rosary and it is amazing. I use it to pray with my grandma's rosary.
In particular, it has several additional ways to add contemplation to your rosary prayers. It has a short meditation and a long meditation for each mystery, it has a scripture-reading contemplation for each mystery, and (my personal favorite) a way of praying the rosary with a particular brief meditation of some aspect of each mystery following each Hail Mary of that decade. I find this last one really helps take me deeper into the particular mystery.
You can incorporate these added contemplative options into your practice as you see fit. The book just gives you some options to use as you see fit. Also, it is very much pocket sized so you can take it anywhere, keep it in a desk, bedside table, small pocket of a bag, etc.
Sure I don't have time to reference the exact page but it's in The Mystical City of God you can probably find it online
Yeah or the genuflect, in The Mystical City of God Our Lady would do 300 genuflections each day amongst other pious acts for the conversion of sinners. Its meant as a sign of humility. That obviously wouldn't be quite the same with just a sign of the cross but that's still a way to get God back on your mind which is never a bad thing.
I think free will was a gift to angels and humans but reserved for them, other creatures like the animals and planets and stars were not given the freedom, at least as far as we know from Divine Revelation. I don't think this had anything to do with the choice Adam & Eve made, they already had free will to do so.
Not sure if this is on or off-track. Interestingly the other 'creatures' like the wind and rain are commanded by God to afflict mankind because of this disobedience, they are set against us. We should never curse the elements for obeying God's Will and it is Him who makes them do so. They are loyal creatures who never disobeyed.
In The Mystical City of God we see Mary flex her Queenship over the elements to reduce their ferocity against her Son as an infant and instead to afflict her more severely.
He was guardian angel for Mary by pious belief along with a thousand others in The Mystical City of God and he appeared as the Angel of Portugal to the child visionaries at Fatima before Our Lady appeared the following year, he was named the Angel of Peace. God bless.
33 is believed to be the perfect age for humans, it was the age of Adam and Eve at the fall I think by pious belief. In The Mystical City of God it was revealed that Mary did not physically age after she reached the age of 33, although it may have appeared that way to other people. This will most likely be the physical age of humans in heaven.
None of that is doctrine just private revelation so its not required to believe it. God bless.
If you want to go hard-core then read The Mystical City of God it goes through the entire life story of the Holy Family and right through the life of Jesus on earth. Tons of material for meditation on the Mysteries. God bless you.
Interestingly its a pious belief that Mary ascended into heaven with Jesus after the 40 days, she was replaced bodily with an angel who took her form on earth. After she had witnessed the glory of Jesus entering His kingdom she was given the choice by the Trinity to stay in heaven and not physically have to suffer death (as she never contracted Original Sin) or return to earth. She chose to return to earth to help establish the early Church and preferred to die naturally as a solidarity with mankind, she was not afraid to go through that door. This is from private revelation in The Mystical City of God.
I will pray. I can also tell you this small inexpensive book might help: https://www.amazon.com/Sit-Walk-Stand-Watchman-Nee/dp/0842358935
The opening chapters alone could do wonders. I find immense comfort in remembering the things taught there.
Pretty much any book store, except for the Christian ones.
my dear child you are so misguided... I pray you see the light and let the lord take you under his wing little boy. the lord loves all boys and girls equally, especially europeans and white people
http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Misunderstood-Messiah-Biblical-Imagination/dp/083083804X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420544560&sr=1-1&keywords=biblical+books to help you through you troubled times...
and remember to let jesus' warm sweet love flow through you.