I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy my be in you, and that your joy may be complete. – John 15:5-11
GREAT JOY – Thomas Merton (Love And Living)
The Nativity message is the message not only of joy but of the joy: the GREAT JOY which all the people of the world have always expected without fully realizing what it was. It is the joy of eschatological fulfillment which we seek, in the depths of our hearts, from the moment that we are beings endowed with conscious life…
Now, in the Nativity of Christ, the Great Joy is announced, in which all the ambiguities are swept aside and all men are confronted with the clear possibility of a decision that will not only help them to put together the pieces of lives wrecked in individual failure but will even make sense out of the lives of all men of all time.
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Giver of Peace, inspire all peoples with your meekness and humility of heart. Heal the strife and animosity that separate your sons and daughters and all the nations of the world. You who came to save us, endow us with loving intentions and loving actions. Let the peace of Bethlehem be with us always. Grant us the peace of justice, the peace of charity, and the eternal peace with you. Amen.
Excerpt from Advent and Christmas with Thomas Merton
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