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<table class="gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout-table gmail-m_-173180235075307110root-table" style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout-row-margin32678" style="padding:5px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout-row32678" class="gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout-row gmail-m_-173180235075307110widget gmail-m_-173180235075307110_widget_text gmail-m_-173180235075307110style32678" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="gmail-m_-173180235075307110layout-row-padding32678" 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_-173180235075307110text_div32154" class="gmail-m_-173180235075307110td_text gmail-m_-173180235075307110td_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:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;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:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style: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>,
 in today’s Gospel Jesus invites his first disciples to come and stay 
with him</b></span>. I think that this command of Jesus is a bit<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> like an initiation
 ritual. </b></span>In order to prepare themselves for a lifetime of discipleship, 
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>his followers must first pass through an intensive period of spiritual 
formation, much like a novitiate in a monastery or<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> training camp in 
football or boot camp in the army.</span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>During this concentrated time, they 
were to learn, in their bones, the essentials of this new way of life. 
</b></span>So the disciples <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>learn a new way of radical dependency upon God.</b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br><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></b></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">Now
 what does all of this have to do with us? You say, "I’m a 
fifty-year-old man with a wife and kids and job and responsibility; I 
can’t very well go drifting off in a boat, trusting in the providence of
 God."</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"> </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">True
 enough. But <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>you can, for instance, go on a retreat every year; </b></span>spend a 
week once a year at a monastery or a
retreat center, living the spiritual life intensely; <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>live Lent more 
severely and more radically </b></span>this year, perhaps <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>undertaking a difficult 
fast or giving alms until it hurts.</b></span> These are things that any of us can 
do.</span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b><br></div>
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