Monday, December 20, 2010

Advent reflection -- Dec. 20


This is today’s reflection from “How Far Is It to Bethlehem?” A Spiritual Guide for Advent 2010 by Sr. Carol Perry, S.U. for Marble Collegiate Church.

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Luke 2:8

To every Christmas scene we must add these ordinary folk, the shepherds, toiling at an occupation that was once revered by Israel that saw itself as the flock of the Lord. By the first century, the nomadic shepherd, unable to keep the 613 prescriptions of the Pharisaic law, unable to faithfully attend synagogue but bound to the fields by their sheep, by this time the shepherds were scorned by the religious leaders. With some humor, we see God giving them a seat that is front row center for the drama of the Incarnation.


Let us remember in our prayers today all the outcasts of the world, the poor, the unwanted, the undocumented, the forgotten.

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