Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Celebrate Fourth Sunday in Advent December 19, 2015 with Presiders: Kathryn Shea ARCWP and Lee Breyer Music Minister: Mindy Simmons

Theme: The impossible takes a little longer

 Welcome and Music Preparation

Greeting and Gathering Hymn: “Go Tell It on the Mountain” #99, verses 1,3,4.

                                                                        Gathering Prayer

Presider: Let us pray as we come together to break bread and share the blessings we have received on the wings of an angel and the openness of Mary and Joseph. We thank you, Incarnate God, in the name of Jesus, your Son…our brother. All: Amen.

Presider: Wisdom, your grace joins all heaven and earth. With you we labor, with new life to give birth. Come now, O Wisdom, our midwife and friend, open our hearts to your world, one without end. All: Amen.

   Opening Prayer

All: God of life, wholeness and holiness, you who direct all creation to its fulfillment in Jesus, the Christ – open our hearts to the message of the Gospel so that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice may guide our lives. Loving God, bless all of us gathered here and all those of our community who are not with us today. We ask this of you, our brother Jesus, and our Wisdom Sophia. Amen.

Penitential Rite and Community Forgiveness

Presider: Creator God, to you all hearts are open, no desires unknown, and no secrets hidden. We ask you to send your Spirit to us so that we may live more fully according to your will for us and that we may be worthy to be called your blessed people.

     All: Help us to hear Wisdom’s messages, to faithfully understand them, and to receive the strength to follow them.

Presider: Christ Jesus, we ask for the grace to realize our continual need to grow in goodness and caring for ourselves, for others, and for our planet earth.

     All: We accept your love and understanding of the frailty of our human nature. Help us to extend your forgiving presence in us to all those with whom we live, with no exceptions.

Presider: And we join with you, Jesus the Christ, believing that the insight, direction, and strength of the Holy Spirit will lead us to deeper dedications to justice, equality, peace, and nonviolence.

All: (with an outstretched arm): God, the Father and Mother of mercy, through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, he revealed that nothing can separate us from your unconditional love. He sent the Holy Spirit to move among us and all creation. May that Spirit give us the wisdom to love you – and the strength and compassion to love one another. Merciful God, teach us the virtues of pardon and peace so that we may – in turn – learn to forgive our failures to care for one another and for our planet Earth. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our brother and of the Holy Spirit, our healer and comforter. Amen.

Glory to God

All: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all God’s people on earth. Creator God, heart of the universe, we thank you for the breath of the Spirit sustaining everything that exists, everywhere in the cosmos. Through the example and teachings of Jesus Christ, you gave us the grace to know that you are always among us – and that we can experience you in our brothers and sisters. We give you glory and praise through Jesus Christ, our brother, and the Holy Spirit, Wisdom. Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First reading: Micah 5: 1-4                 All: Thanks be to God. See reading at bottom of this Post.

Psalm 80: Responsorial: God, help us turn to you; show us your face and we shall be saved.  

Second reading: Luke 1:39 – 45          All: Glory and thanks to our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Shared Homily/Community Reflection See Homily Starter  by  Priest Lee Breyer Below;

Kathryn Shea ARCWP shared this beautiful youtube movie of Wisdom/Sophia written by Jann Clanton

Discussion starter: The impossible takes a little longer

Profession of Faith

All: We believe in God, the Creator of the universe, whose divinity infuses all that exists, making everything, everywhere, sacred. We believe in Jesus, the Christ, who leads us to the fullness of humanity. Through him, we become a new people, called beyond the consequences of our brokenness. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Wisdom who keeps the Christ-vision present to all those who are searching for meaning and wholeness in their lives – and the Sustainer who heals and energizes us when our spirits may grow weary in our journeys. We say: Amen to courage, to hope, and to truth. We say: Amen to the partnership and equality of all people of different genders, races, and faiths. We believe in a world of justice and peace for everyone, everywhere, with no exceptions. In all of this, we surely believe.

Prayers of the Community

Presider: We are a people of faith; we believe in the power of prayer. We are always mindful of God’s unconditional love and care for all of us. As so, we bring the needs of people – throughout the world – to our merciful and gracious God.   After each intercession, respond: Compassionate God, hear our prayers.

Presider: Healing God, you faithfully listen to our prayers. We ask you to strengthen us in our caring for one another and in our works for justice, equality, and peace in a world without violence. As always, we make this prayer in the names of Jesus, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom. Amen.

Offertory Procession “Away in a Manger”   #84

Preparation of the Gifts

Presider: Blessed are you, gracious God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, this grain that the earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.

All: Blessed be God forever.

Presider: Blessed are you, gracious God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, this fruit of the vine that human hands have made. It will become for us our spiritual drink.

All: Blessed be God forever.

Gathering of the Gifted

Presider: Jesus Christ, who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his family’s. Everyone is welcome around our table.

ALL: Merciful God, we are united in this sacrament by our love of Jesus Christ. We are in communion with everyone who proclaims your power and mercy to all those who are marginalized and oppressed. May we love tenderly, do justice, and walk humbly with you in solidarity with our brothers and sisters. May we live as prophetic witnesses to the Gospel, with the vision of Jesus and the wisdom of the Spirit. Amen.

Presider: God dwells in each one of us.            All: Namaste!

Presider: Let us give thanks to the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists.

All: With hearts full of love, we give God thanks and praise.

Presider: Holy Spirit, we realize your presence among us as we gather at our family table.

          All: Fill us with reverence for you, for one another, and for all your creation.

Presider: Let us lift up our hearts.

All: We lift them up to the Holy One, living in us and loving through us.

Eucharistic Prayer

Voice 1: Ever present and always caring Loving God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. In you we live and move and have our very being. Your Spirit dwelling in us gives us the hope of unending peace and joy with you. Your gift of the Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, is the foretaste and promise of the paschal feast of heaven.

Voice 2: We thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus in history – and the gift of Jesus in faith. You raised him up from among your people to baptize us in your Spirit. He was moved by his vision of your presence among us. He burned with insight and truth, revealing you in his life well lived. He showed us, through his example, not only how we should live, but also for what we may die.

Voice 3: When his time had come, Jesus suffered for the values he deeply believed and taught…his conviction that love is stronger than death. And then, as a model of this insight for the ages to come, he opened wide his arms and died. The Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, showed us that life is eternal and love is immortal. Jesus is with us today as he will be through the end of time.

All: O God, let your Spirit of life, healing and wholeness come upon these gifts that we gathered from the fields and placed on our table — this simple wheat and wine. May she have them become for us the Body and Blood of Jesus, our brother.

(With an outstretched arm as we pray the consecration together. We remember the gift that Jesus gave us on the night before he died. He gathered with his friends to share a final Passover meal. And it was at that supper that Jesus took bread, said the blessing and shared it with them saying: take this, all of you, and eat it. This bread is you; this bread is me. We are one body, the presence of God in the world. Do this in memory of me. [Pause]

In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, said the blessing and gave it to his friends saying: take this, all of you, and drink it. This wine is you; this wine is me. We are one blood, the presence of God in the world. Do this in memory of me.

Presider: Jesus, who was with God “in the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth,” is with us now in this bread. The Spirit, of whom the prophets spoke in history, is with us now in this cup. Let us proclaim this mystery of faith.

All: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ lives in us and through us in the world today.

Voice 4: In memory of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we offer you, God, this life-giving bread and this saving cup. May all who share this sacred meal be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit. And may that Spirit, that Wisdom, that moved in Jesus move freely in our lives as well.

Voice 5: God, remember your church throughout the world, help us grow in love, together with Francis, our Pope, Bridget Mary, our Bishop, and all your people everywhere – especially those who live on the margins of church and society. Remember also all those, living and dead, who touched our lives and left their footprints on our hearts. We remember especially….(mention names, if you wish).

All: Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Our Creator God, forever and ever. Amen (sung).

All: Our Father and Mother ……..Amen.

All: Lord God, we have prayed that your kindom may come among us. Open our ears to hear it, our hands to serve it, and our hearts to hold it….Amen.

The Sign of Peace

Presider: Jesus, you said to your disciples, “My peace I leave you; my peace I give you.”   Look on the faith of those gathered here and ….

All: … grant us your peace. O God, following the example of Jesus and with the strength of the Spirit, help us spread that peace throughout the world, to everyone, everywhere, no exceptions. Amen.

Presider: May the peace of God be always with us, and let us extend that peace to one another.

Litany for the Breaking of Bread

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to Spirit-filled service and to live the Gospel of non-violence for peace and justice.   We will live justly.

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to be your presence in the world and to be bearers of forgiveness and understanding, healing and compassion everywhere in your name. We will love tenderly.

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to speak truth to power. We will walk humbly with you.

Presider: This is Jesus, who liberates, heals, and transforms us and our world. All are invited to partake of this sacred banquet of love. All: We are the Body of Christ.

Pre-Communion Prayer

Presider: Lord God, as we come to share the richness of your table, we cannot forget the poverty of so many of our brothers and sisters.

Men: We cannot eat this bread and forget those who are hungry. O God, your world is one world and we are stewards of its nourishment for your people.

Women: We cannot drink this wine and forget those who are thirsty. O God, the very earth and its people cry out for environmental justice.

All: We cannot listen to your words of peace and not grieve for the world at war.

During Communion: Mindy’s Instrumental Solo

After Communion Hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”

Prayer of Thanksgiving After Communion

Presider: Eternal God, may this Eucharist in which we always share Christ’s healing love deepen our oneness with you and our unity with one another. We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Christ, and the Spirit, the Wisdom.   All: Amen.

Community Prayers of Gratitude and Announcements

Closing Prayer

All: May our hearts be glad on our journey as we dream new dreams and see new visions.  

May we all live and work for peace, justice, and non-violence in our hearts for ourselves and our brothers and sisters – whoever they are and wherever they are.

May we learn to bless, honor, and hold in reverence the Earth and one another.   Amen.

Closing Community Blessing

Presider: Our prayer as we anticipate Christmas is that we may recognize and actively acknowledge the presence of the sacred in all those places on this earth that we are reluctant to search or simply overlook: in the stables of our own lives; among the downtrodden who live on the edges of our society; in immigrants especially but also in people who are “different” from us. And we pray — (with an outstretched arm in blessing)

All: May we realize Emmanuel, God-in-us, and give generous expression to this wonderful gift that we all share. May our nurturing God bless us all gathered here and all those in our communities. We ask this in the name of the Creator, in the name of Mary’s child, and in the Name of our Wisdom as we minister to one another as the People of God. Amen.

Closing Community Commisioning and Hymn “He Came Down”

www.marymotherofjesus.org

www.arcwp.org

First Reading: Micah 5: 2-4

A reading from the book of the prophet Micah.

Thus says our God:  You, Bethlehem, David’s country…from you, the smallest of the clans of Judah, will come the leader who will shepherd Israel.   His family tree is ancient and distinguished.  In the meantime, Israel will be in foster homes until the birth pangs are over and the child is born.  And then, the united people who are scattered will come back home to the family of Israel.  He will stand strong and firm in his role as their shepherd by God’s strength, centered in the majesty of God.  And the united people will have a good and safe home, for the whole world will hold him in respect –the Peacemaker of the world!

This is the word of God.   R. Thanks be to God.

Second Reading:  Hebrews 11: 1-4, 8-12
Homily Starter: Lee Breyer

So here we are with two pregnant women, one of whom is “aged” and the other is “inexperienced” (terms I ran across in various translations). These were not the only ones in the bible.  There was, of course, Abraham and Sarah in Genesis…and then joined with two more in areas of the Old Testament that are not often visited.  The Bible uses these stories to make a point in a story and then move Salvation History forward.  In what later readers understand at the outset as difficult (Israelites crossing into the Promised Land) or impossible (these pregnancies) they are used to –among other things  - illustrate the point in the scriptures that “nothing is impossible with God.”  In the second reading, Paul gives us several more examples of challenging experiences and presents a contributing factor in these stories, namely the role of faith in God’s promises to be present with God’s people and make seemingly impossible things possible.

In our lives, many things that we may have thought of as “science fiction” are now “science fact,” what was mere speculation (at best) or impossible were not only possible but are now history...and can be shipped from China. “Nothing is impossible with God.”

We have very obvious examples of that right here.  At one time in the past there was a Mercy Sister who thought that she’d never be a priest…so then she had to settle on marrying one. Today we have women who, in the past could not even aspire to being a server on the altar, are now priests and bishops.

And there are many times in our lives that we find ourselves in situations that we could “never get out of” and now, having done so, cannot even remember how.

Maybe you’d care to share a story of what came to mind as you listened to all this...that “nothing is impossible with God.”

Christmas Sharing and Love: Roman Catholic Woman Priest’s reflections for Fourth Sunday in Advent and Christmas by Judy Lee, RCWP, 12/20,2015

https://judyabl.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/sharing-and-love-roman-catholic-woman-priests-reflections-for-fourth-sunday-in-advent-and-christmas/

This is the fourth Sunday in Advent when we go on a journey with Mary to visit her cousin Elizabeth and share her good and amazing news of bearing the Christ-child, Jesus (Luke 1:39-45).  How good it is that Mary has Elizabeth to share with, for despite her unqualified YES to God, she must be full of many feelings just bursting to be shared. How we thank God for our close friends and relatives this Christmas-tide. How blessed are we to have loved ones in our lives who can share anything and everything. The visit between two women who are so close to one another that the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at Mary’s words is not an unusual visit, especially around Christmas. We seek out and long to be near those we love and those we can share everything with.

In our church we are celebrating Christmas along with this fourth Sunday in Advent for some practical reasons, especially to include all of the families and individuals in Christmas joy and gifting.  So we capture the themes of Fourth Advent and connect them to the first Christmas. We are particularly happy to blend this reading about Mary and Elizabeth with the usual Christmas Gospel in Luke 2:1-14 as that enables us to include another important woman, in addition, of course, to Mary who gives her all, in the litany of characters in the Christmas story who are traditionally otherwise all male. We have a Pageant/Tableau with all of the children acting out the Christmas story after the Mass. We have some of the girls enact shepherds and wise people along with the boys, and both boys and girls are angels and animals. We talk about the mothering and fathering of our loving and gifting God along with the mothering and fathering and gifting of Joseph and Mary. In our congregation many are fictive kin, meaning non blood kin, so Joseph fits right in in whatever way he is presented. We make all of the congregation participants in the first Christmas and in receiving the Christ-Child this Christmas. Then the gifts are given at the end. Although the material gifts are important to our people, the gift of love is what we experience and want the most, and that is freely given and fully received.

Some of our families will not have much to open on Christmas but long to stay home and celebrate that day together, so we provide a special celebration and gifting ahead of time. Due to the love and generosity of our donors, each one present is given a gift, and the parents take home bags of gifts for the children to be opened on Christmas-they are also given gifts for themselves and gift cards and funds to use as they wish or must as bills do not stop at Christmas.  Yet, the celebration of our church family ,  being together, worshipping together, laughing and sharing together as Mary and Elizabeth did, and most of all loving one another is the greatest gift to take home.  God’s gift of Love at Christmas is cause for celebration every day of the year.

May you all be blessed on Christmas with gifts of love, people to share with, and the great joy of knowing God is with us in a new way, born again in our hearts this Christmas.  Make room for Christ to be born in your heart and life this Christmas!

Love and blessings,

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, RCWP

Co-Pastor Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community of Fort Myers

Beautiful Christmas Song by Faith Hill, "A Baby Changes Everything"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3wujkozv9E

"Love, Not Atonement" from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, by Richard Rohr

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation--Love--Not-Atonement.html?aid=iXa_UNn2YaQ&soid=1103098668616 "The common Christian reading of the Bible is that Jesus "died for our sins"--either to pay a debt to the devil (common in the first millennium) or to pay a debt to God the Father (proposed by Anselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109). Anselm's infamous Cur Deus Homo has been called "the most unfortunately successful piece of theology ever written." My hero, Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), agreed with neither of these understandings. Scotus was not guided by the Temple language of debt, atonement, or blood sacrifice (understandably used in the Gospels and by Paul). He was inspired by the high level cosmic hymns in the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians and the first chapter of John's Gospel. After Anselm, Christians have paid a huge price for what theologians called "substitutionary atonement theory"--the strange idea that before God could love us God needed and demanded Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to atone for our sin-drenched humanity. With that view, salvation depends upon a problem instead of a divine proclamation about the core nature of reality. As if God could need payment, and even a very violent transaction, to be able to love and accept "his" own children--a message that those with an angry, distant, absent, or abusive father were already far too programmed to believe. For Scotus, the incarnation of God and the redemption of the world could never be a mere mop-up exercise in response to human sinfulness, but the proactive work of God from the very beginning. We were "chosen in Christ before the world was made," as the hymn in Ephesians puts it (1:4). Our sin could not possibly be the motive for the divine incarnation, but only perfect love and divine self-revelation! For Scotus, God never merely reacts, but always supremely and freely acts, and always acts totally out of love. Scotus was very Trinitarian. The best way I can summarize how Scotus tried to change the old notion of retributive justice is this: Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity (it did not need changing)! Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God. God in Jesus moved people beyond the counting, weighing, and punishing model, that the ego prefers, to the utterly new world that Jesus offered, where God's abundance has made any economy of merit, sacrifice, reparation, or atonement both unhelpful and unnecessary. Jesus undid "once and for all" (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10) all notions of human and animal sacrifice and replaced them with his new economy of grace, which is the very heart of the gospel revolution. Jesus was meant to be a game changer for the human psyche and for religion itself. When we begin negatively, or focused on the problem, we never get out of the hamster wheel. To this day we begin with and continue to focus on sin, when the crucified one was pointing us toward a primal solidarity with the very suffering of God and all of creation. This changes everything. Change the starting point, change the trajectory! We all need to know that God does not love us because we are good; God loves us because God is good. Nothing humans can do will ever decrease or increase God's eternal eagerness to love."

Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pp. 183-188

Pope Francis' conservative critics growing bolder as pope enters 80th year pushing radical agenda By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

Bridget Mary's Response: Pope Francis does not have a radical agenda, he has a compassionate heart. He reminds everyone that there is only love and no one is outside God's tender embrace. 
Last year, Francis reprimanded the Curia, the modern day Inquisition for their lavish lifestyles and failures to live as loving reflections of God's service in the world. I wonder what he will say to them to the prelates this year. Stay tuned for more possible fire works in the Vatican! Life is never dull when Pope Francis is around. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

http://www.startribune.com/pope-enters-80th-year-popular-as-ever-but-with-criticism/362765581/

Andrew Medichini, Associated Press Photo

Pope Francis kisses a baby as he visits a refugee camp, in Bangui, Central African Republic, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. The Pope has landed in the capital of Central African Republic, his final stop in Africa and where he will seek to heal a country wracked by conflict between Muslims and Christians.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis entered his 80th year on Thursday amid hopes among his critics that it will be his last — at least as pope.
While Francis remains enormously popular among most rank-and-file Catholics, a small but vocal group of conservatives who have never much cared for his radical agenda have grown increasingly strident in criticizing the pope now that there is little doubt left about his priorities.
They have taken aim at the just-concluded synod on family issues, where the divisive issue of Communion for the civilly remarried took center stage. They have raised alarm at Francis' call for a more decentralized church and his loosening of the Vatican's marriage annulment process. They have winced at his environmental alarmism, wondered what's in store for Catholic orthodoxy in this Holy Year of Mercy and blasted as sacrilege the recent screening of nature shots on St. Peter's Basilica.
The Remnant, a small, traditionalist U.S. newspaper, last week penned an open letter begging Francis to change course or resign, arguing that his papacy was "causing grave harm to the church." Organizers say a few thousand people have signed onto the petition.
"You have given many indications of an alarming hostility to the church's traditional teaching, discipline and customs, and the faithful who try to defend them, while being preoccupied with social and political questions beyond the competence of the Roman Pontiff," the newspaper said. "This appalling situation has no parallel in church history."

To put it more simply: "Many people in the Vatican want Francis dead," said Francesca Chaouqui, the woman at the heart of a leaks scandal currently convulsing Francis' Vatican.
In an interview last weekend with Italy's La Stampa newspaper, Chaouqui said Francis' in-house reforms and nominations have emboldened his enemies, many of whom were in the Vatican when Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires and had a less-than-pleasant relationship with Rome.
Some of these cardinals and bishops are openly resisting his reforms while others inside and out of the Vatican are simply waiting out his pontificate under the argument that popes come and go but the Curia remains.
"Pope Francis is no longer trusted by many conservative Catholics and the number who don't trust him has grown enormously since the synod," conservative columnist Damian Thompson wrote in Britain's Spectator last month. He said he doesn't see the dust settling until the next conclave, "which lots of conservative Catholics want to happen as soon as possible."
The Argentine Jesuit, who has rarely backed down from a fight, seems unfazed and quite possibly emboldened by the criticism. And there is no indication that it poses any real threat to his broad popularity since the concern has been confined in the public sphere at least to mostly Anglo-Saxon and Italian pundits writing in predictably conservative publications, claiming to speak for a growing number of otherwise anonymous Catholic laity and clergy.

Next Monday will be a good litmus test to show just how far Francis is willing to push the envelope when he gathers the Curia for his traditional Christmas greetings.
It was at that usually jovial affair last year that Francis issued a blistering, public dressing down of his closest collaborators by diagnosing the "15 ailments of the Curia." He accused the cardinals and bishops of the Vatican bureaucracy of using their careers to grab power and wealth, of living "hypocritical" double lives and of forgetting — due to "spiritual Alzheimer's" — that they're supposed to be joyful men of God.
It didn't go down well.
"Since then, the murmuring of criticism of Jorge Mario Bergoglio has grown, always though anonymously given the the pope's reaction to anyone who criticizes or irritates him," Italy's veteran Vatican analyst and frequent Francis critic Sandro Magister wrote recently. "Many are wondering what he'll say this time."
In fact, many wonder what the pope says a lot of the time.

Canon lawyer Edward Condon, a strong supporter of Francis who doesn't count himself among his conservative critics, said the pope's casual and free way of speaking has nevertheless led to confusion among the faithful about where he stands on certain key issues. Writing recently in Britain's Catholic Herald, Condon suggested that was the result of papal interpreters who truncate his remarks and spin them to suit their own agendas, aided by a pope who is uninterested in following his own media coverage and advisers uninterested in advising him how it's all playing out.
"If the pope isn't trying to leave himself open to constant contradictory interpretations, what is going on?" Condon asked. "The most obvious answer seems to be that he is simply unaware of the turmoil carrying on outside the Vatican walls."
What transpired on the Vatican walls last week has for many been the last straw.
On Dec. 8, a major Catholic feast day honoring the Virgin Mary and the official start of Francis' Holy Year of Mercy, the Vatican projected National Geographic and other images of animals and nature on the facade of St. Peter's Basilica. The spectacular sound and light show, sponsored among others by the World Bank, aimed to both highlight Francis' environmental appeal and coincide with the final stretch of climate negotiations in Paris.
Criticism among conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic was swift and severe.

"The sense that St. Peter's Basilica has been profaned is strong," Italian Catholic author Antonio Socci wrote on his Facebook page. "The holy place par excellence, the heart of Christianity transformed on a maxi-screen for the show of the 'New World Power Ideology' — and the Nativity crib was left in darkness."

"To White Feminists Who Don’t Want to Discuss Racism: Here Are 7 Things You Need to Know" by Britni de la Cretaz

http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/10/white-feminists-dont-talk-race/

Report from Olga Lucia Alvarez ARCWP: COLOMBIA-BARRANQUILLA. TERCERA PARTE: ARCWP ACOMPAÑAMIENTO PASTORAL EN FAMILIA

https://evangelizadorasdelosapostoles.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/colombia-barranquilla-tercera-parte-arcwp-acompanamiento-pastoral-en-familia/

D and return to Barranquilla, was invited to stay at the house of my sisters / os and girlfriends / os Garcia-Barrios family, in the neighborhood Montes. Our relationship with this dear family, which make integral part adoption, much honor, dating back to when we accompanied them with the Sisters of Teaching, in the neighborhood Las Malvinas.

The main host my sister Mayito Neighborhoods:

Maria Barrios, affectionately all / I will call "Mayito"

With her, I have had the pleasure to visit their children / as, at the premises where the workshops of automotive mechanics work. Family business made with solidarity and determination pulse. Employees of the workshops, are the children of the neighboring district, birthplace of playing foot.ball supporting the glorious Junior Team!

Mayito proudly tells us that has 120 grandchildren! 22 great-grandchildren! Children? hers, and Lazarus (her husband) ...

GRAPHIC REPORT WELCOMING AND VISITING STAFF

OF THE 4 WORKSHOPS

I was stuck in the workshop Precision, including engines, cylinder heads, connecting rods, bolts, crankshafts, grease and oil.

At the entrance of the workshop Precision, this woman with the beautiful smile of God offers me different sweets: candy joy, coconut, pineapple, orange, sesame. I could not refuse such temptation!

           Workshop office thousandth, with Elly, Mingo and other friends.

 At the entrance of the Workshop management Justi, with Mayito and other partners.

This time we could not find Charo (Lazarus-child) Administrator and Manager accuracy. Neither I managed to visit in Cartagena-Bolivar Israel in the workshop there. We will see at the family reunion in Puerto Velero.

Mayito motivation and makes us reflect on the purpose of family reunion. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, and mother, who grows and protects the faith and Christian values ​​within the family.

Mayito, read the Gospel on Sunday and invites us to share (Luke 3: 10-18)

"Well, we have to do?" It is a question that leads us to question, do we reform our lives. True conversion is something we do with a sincere heart to others, share what we have with those who have nothing "

Israel son of Mayito- involved reading and commenting on the text we just read Mayito.

At this family reunion, they are invited children / as, they do almost every Sunday, either Puerto Velero today, tomorrow in Puerto Colombia. Sometimes the sea, others along the Rio Magdalena. I was invited to share and live with them this wonderful experience: the hand of the divinity guiding his people. All / I share the Word of God and enjoy.

The offer of good and fresh fish was swift.

Mayito grandchildren, to catch snails and enjoy the beautiful afternoon we did the Creator!

Mayito as community leader, grassroots, has not only done its work in your family, but with the neighborhood community, Las Malvinas, founder of "The Domitilas" and now in the Barrio Los Montes where a group of women encouraged to The second group of "Light and Life".

Accompanying Mayito in the meeting with their neighbors.

Mayito, offers its neighbors, organize the Ninth with the kids in the neighborhood and responsibilities are assigned.

    A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL / OS AND A NEW YEAR FILLED WITH BLESSINGS OF HEALTH, PEACE AND LOVE IN OUR FAMILIES, NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS / OS AND BROTHERS / AS THE WORLD!

WE appreciate the support that has provided GARCIA FAMILY-BARRIOS, passage, accommodation, meals and RESOURCE MOBILIZATION AND HAPPY STAY IN THE MIDDLE OF FAMILY so precious and beautiful experience of the divine essence present among ALL / AS YOU.

                                                        "I AM CHRISTMAS"