<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail-ajy" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajz" id="gmail-:et" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></div>
<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19354" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19354" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064image-td" align="left" width="650" valign="top"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/6cd5352adde2290ae096397277658644.jpg?r=1881800010" alt="" style="display: block; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: none; border-width: medium; border-image: none 100% / 1 / 0 stretch; outline: medium none currentcolor; opacity: 1; margin-right: 0px;" class="gmail-CToWUd gmail-a6T" tabindex="0" width="221" height="103"></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19357" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_html gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19357" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19357" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:0px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064html_div18926" align="left" width="590"> <p style="color:white;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:4px;line-height:1.5">Your daily Gospel reflection...</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19360" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_text gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19360" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19360" style="padding:30px 30px 20px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064text_div18929" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064td_text gmail-m_4708256508482410064td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" align="left" valign="top"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:26px"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;text-align:center"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-style:italic;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:26px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:italic"><span class="gmail-aBn" tabindex="0"><span class="gmail-aQJ">Wednesday, December 6, 2017</span></span></span></b><br></div>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19359" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_picture gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19359" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19359" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:20px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064image-td" align="center" width="590" valign="top"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1408A1756A29A1266040" style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,119,34);display:block;min-width:100%" target="_blank"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/7e2867fcaf0c2ddd581483e5e17f4d20.png?r=306714222" alt="" style="display: block; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: none; border-width: medium; border-image: none 100% / 1 / 0 stretch; outline: medium none currentcolor; width: 221px; opacity: 1; max-width: 100%;" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="221"></a></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19355" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_html gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19355" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19355" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064html_div18924" align="left" width="590"> <p style="color:black;font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:20px;font-weight:500;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">1st <span class="gmail-aBn" tabindex="0"><span class="gmail-aQJ">Wednesday</span></span> of Advent</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19356" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_html gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19356" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19356" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:5px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064html_div18925" align="left" width="590"> <p style="color:rgb(237,119,34);font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:18px;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">Matthew 15:29-37</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row19361" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row gmail-m_4708256508482410064widget gmail-m_4708256508482410064_widget_text gmail-m_4708256508482410064style19361" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064layout-row-padding19361" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_4708256508482410064text_div18930" class="gmail-m_4708256508482410064td_text gmail-m_4708256508482410064td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" align="left" valign="top"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal;text-align:start">Friends, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>today’s Gospel tells of Jesus feeding the four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish</b></span>.<br></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:normal;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal;text-align:start">An
awful lot of contemporary theologians and Bible commentators have tried
to explain away the miracles of
Jesus as spiritual symbols. Perhaps most notoriously, many preachers
tried to explain the multiplication of the loaves and fishes as a
"miracle" of charity, with everyone sharing the little that he had.<br></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:normal;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal;text-align:start">But
I think it’s hard to deny that the first Christians were intensely
interested in <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the miracles of Jesus, </b></span>and that they didn’t see them as
mere literary symbols! They saw them for what they really <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>were: </b><b>actions
of God, breaking into our world.</b></span></span></span></div>
</b></b></b></b></b></div>
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