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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19498" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19498" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118image-td" align="left" width="650" valign="top"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/6cd5352adde2290ae096397277658644.jpg?r=1110091054" 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="232" height="108"></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19501" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_html gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19501" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19501" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:0px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118html_div19070" 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" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19504" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_text gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19504" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19504" style="padding:30px 30px 20px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118text_div19073" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118td_text gmail-m_-6584577882534878118td_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">Friday, December 22, 2017</span></span></span></b><br></div>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19503" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_picture gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19503" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19503" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:20px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118image-td" align="center" width="590" valign="top"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1424A1772A29A1266055" 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=1505690153" 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" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19499" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_html gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19499" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19499" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118html_div19068" 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">Friday</span></span> of Advent</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19500" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_html gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19500" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19500" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:5px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118html_div19069" 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 1:46-56</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row19505" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row gmail-m_-6584577882534878118widget gmail-m_-6584577882534878118_widget_text gmail-m_-6584577882534878118style19505" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118layout-row-padding19505" style="padding:10px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118text_div19074" class="gmail-m_-6584577882534878118td_text gmail-m_-6584577882534878118td_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:normal;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit">Friends, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>today’s Gospel explains the significance of Mary’s </b></span></span><i style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px"><span style="color:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>fiat.</b></span> </span></i><span style="color:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>By
far, the most important Advent figure is Mary of Nazareth, the Mother
of God,</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> for Mary sums up in her person the whole of the people Israel,
the nation whose whole purpose was to prepare for the coming of the
Lord.<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> </span></b><b>In the face of</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the evil, injustice, stupidity, and sin that were
marring</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>his beautiful creation, God resolved to choose a people and to
form them according to his heart so that they could be the vehicle of
his presence to the world. From this people would come, as a sort of
flowering, the Messiah.</b></span><br></span></span><br><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">Thus
Mary recapitulates the story of Israel, the story of redemption.
We can, as it were, read the whole Old Testament in her. As the true
Israel, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>she knows what to do, and she does it with enthusiasm. No</b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>dawdling,</b> <b>back-pedaling, straying, or complaining</b></span>:<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> she moves, she goes.
</b><b>And she goes upon the heights, which is exactly where God had always
summoned Israel, so that it could be a light to the nations.</b></span></span></span></div>
</b></b></b></b></b></div>
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