<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail-ajy" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajz" id="gmail-:125" 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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20444" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20444" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186image-td" width="650" valign="top" align="left"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1505A1933A29A1266796" 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/4b960868d8cca37f5b0fa9ef087f3099.png?r=989204268" 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: 650px; opacity: 1; max-width: 100%;" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="650"></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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20447" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_html gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20447" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20447" 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_-4706813438737511186html_div20006" 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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20449" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_text gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20449" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20449" 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_-4706813438737511186text_div20008" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186td_text gmail-m_-4706813438737511186td_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"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:26px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:italic"><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, January 3, 2018</span></span></span></b></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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20448" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_picture gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20448" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20448" 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_-4706813438737511186image-td" width="590" valign="top" align="center"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1505A1933A29A1266863" 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=514847510" 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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20445" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_html gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20445" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20445" 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_-4706813438737511186html_div20004" 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">Christmas Weekday</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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20446" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_html gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20446" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20446" 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_-4706813438737511186html_div20005" 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">John 1:29-34</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_-4706813438737511186layout-row20450" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row gmail-m_-4706813438737511186widget gmail-m_-4706813438737511186_widget_text gmail-m_-4706813438737511186style20450" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186layout-row-padding20450" style="padding:10px 30px 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_-4706813438737511186text_div20009" class="gmail-m_-4706813438737511186td_text gmail-m_-4706813438737511186td_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"><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"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><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">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>our Gospel for today contains one of the most important and
misunderstood lines in all of Christian Scripture. Spying Jesus, John
the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb of God."</b></span> In a very casual survey, I
asked a number of people what this phrase means, and the answer
I typically got was this: it means that </span></b></span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">he is gentle and humble and
good, like a lamb.</span><br></span></span></span></span><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><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"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><br></b></span></b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">But
for a first-century Jew, the phrase had little if anything to do with
that: it had to do with sacrifice. It meant that Jesus was someone who
was destined to be sacrificed as a sin offering to God. </span><br></span></span></span></span><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><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"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><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">John
the Baptist’s characterization of Jesus as the Lamb of God has to do
with Temple sacrifice. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>He will be the one who offers the final and
definitive sacrifice which reconciles divinity and humanity. He will
offer something to the Father which will deal finally with the problem
of sin, and in this we will find
our salvation.</b></span></span></b></span></b></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br> <table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de">
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<td style="width:55px;padding-top:18px"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;"></a></td>
<td style="width:470px;padding-top:17px;color:#41424e;font-size:13px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:18px">Mentes a vírusoktól. <a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank" style="color:#4453ea">www.avast.com</a> </td>
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