<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-ajy" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajz" id="gmail-:xa" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></div>
<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row19489" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19489" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060image-td" width="650" valign="top" align="left"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/6cd5352adde2290ae096397277658644.jpg?r=843554475" 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="264" height="123"></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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19492" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_html gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19492" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19492" 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_-3620429688596570060html_div19061" width="590" align="left"> <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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19495" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_text gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19495" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19495" 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_-3620429688596570060text_div19064" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060td_text gmail-m_-3620429688596570060td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"> <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">Thursday, December 21, 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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19494" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_picture gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19494" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19494" 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_-3620429688596570060image-td" width="590" valign="top" align="center"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1423A1771A29A1266054" 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=1901220032" 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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19490" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_html gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19490" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19490" 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_-3620429688596570060html_div19059" width="590" align="left"> <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">Thursday</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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19491" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_html gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19491" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19491" 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_-3620429688596570060html_div19060" width="590" align="left"> <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 1:39-45</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_-3620429688596570060layout-row19496" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row gmail-m_-3620429688596570060widget gmail-m_-3620429688596570060_widget_text gmail-m_-3620429688596570060style19496" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060layout-row-padding19496" 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_-3620429688596570060text_div19065" class="gmail-m_-3620429688596570060td_text gmail-m_-3620429688596570060td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"> <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 Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. </b></span>I’ve always been
fascinated by <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Mary’s "haste" in this story of the Visitation. Upon
hearing the message of Gabriel concerning her own pregnancy and that of
her cousin, Mary "proceeded in haste into the hill country of Judah" to
see Elizabeth.</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br></b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br></b></span><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"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Why
did she go with such speed and purpose? Because she had found her
mission, her role in the theo-drama. </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>We are dominated today by the
ego-drama in all of its ramifications and implications. The ego-drama is
the play that I’m writing, I’m producing, I’m directing, and I’m
starring in. </b></span>We see this absolutely everywhere in our culture. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Freedom
of choice reigns supreme: I become the person that I choose to<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> be.</span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br></b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br></b></span><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"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>The
theo-drama is the great story being told by God, the great play being
directed by God. </b></span>What makes life thrilling is to <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>discover your role in
it. This is precisely what has happened to Mary.</b></span> She has found
her role—indeed, a climactic role—in the theo-drama, and <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>she wants to
conspire with Elizabeth, who has also discovered her role in the same
drama.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Like Mary, we have to find our place in God’s story.</b></span></span></span></div>
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