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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19471" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19471" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_405603352255968236image-td" align="left" width="650" valign="top"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/6cd5352adde2290ae096397277658644.jpg?r=2023176939" 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="285" height="133"></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19474" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_html gmail-m_405603352255968236style19474" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19474" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:0px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236html_div19043" 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" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19477" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_text gmail-m_405603352255968236style19477" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19477" style="padding:30px 30px 20px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236text_div19046" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236td_text gmail-m_405603352255968236td_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">Tuesday, December 19, 2017</span></span></span></b><br></div>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19476" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_picture gmail-m_405603352255968236style19476" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19476" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:20px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_405603352255968236image-td" align="center" width="590" valign="top"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1421A1769A29A1266052" 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=1032077637" 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" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19472" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_html gmail-m_405603352255968236style19472" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19472" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236html_div19041" 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">3rd <span class="gmail-aBn" tabindex="0"><span class="gmail-aQJ">Tuesday</span></span> of Advent</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19473" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_html gmail-m_405603352255968236style19473" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19473" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:5px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236html_div19042" 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">Luke 1:5-25</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row19478" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row gmail-m_405603352255968236widget gmail-m_405603352255968236_widget_text gmail-m_405603352255968236style19478" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236layout-row-padding19478" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_405603352255968236text_div19047" class="gmail-m_405603352255968236td_text gmail-m_405603352255968236td_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>
in today’s Gospel, Luke tells us about John the Baptist’s parents.</b></span> We
see with utter clarity that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>John is a priestly figure. Zechariah, his
father, is a Temple priest and Elizabeth, his mother, is a descendant of
Aaron, the very first priest.</b></span><br></span><br><span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Now flash forward
thirty years and see John emerging in the desert</b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">. The first question is,
"Why is this son of a priest not working in the Temple?" And the second
is, </span><b>"Why are the people going out from Jerusalem to commune with him?"</b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
The answer to the first is that he is engaging in a prophetic critique
of a Temple that has gone bad. And the answer to the second is that</span><b> he
is performing the acts of a purified T<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">emple priest out in the desert.
</span></b><b>His baptism was a ritual cleansing and a spur to repent, precisely what a
pious Jew would have sought in the Temple.</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">And
the picture becomes complete <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>when Jesus arrives to be baptized and John
says, "Behold, the Lamb of God."</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> This is explicitly Temple talk. </span><b>He is
saying that
<u>the one who is to be sacrificed has arrived.</u> He is the fulfillment of
priesthood, Temple, and sacrifice. The priestly figure has done his
work, and now he fades away.</b></span></span></span></div>
</b></b></b></b></b></div>
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