Second Week - 4
Jesus comes into our exile



The Lord might be raising some issues or concerns in your spirit. Intimate knowledge of Jesus and His mother and friends gets into your intimate awareness, too. The greater your courage and generosity with God, the greater your happiness and the good you will do.

As you go along contemplating, you might find that your imagination raises all kinds of vivid images and presents you with some ripe temptations. Know that imagination does that to lots of us.

Whenever we recall a singular event in our lives, we are contemplating. In this way, we contemplate a keenly embarrassing moment, the wedding of beloved friends, the assassination of a leader. Television likes it; "instant replay" lets viewers witness an action over and over, letting its importance and structure sink in, relishing some excellence, feeling astonishment over again at some happenstance. Hence, contemplating Jesus' life really comes naturally. The Church remembers many things that He did and said because disciples have always been very, very interested. And we can hardly be surprised that, where we do not have the data, we back and fill, so that we can still tell His story and keep remembering it.

PRAYER MATERIAL FOR THIS WEEK:
1. Luke 2:22-38
Jesus presented at the Temple. They offer Jesus, the firstborn, and the offering of the poor. Old Simeon comes along and prophesies about Mary's sword in her heart. Then Anna comes,  telling everyone about Jesus.

2. Repetition

3. Matthew 2:13-18
The Flight into Egypt. A flurry of activity: Herod, an angel, Joseph fears. Joseph and Mary set out for Egypt. They stay there in exile.

4. Repetition

5. Matthew 2:19-23
The Return from Egypt. Joseph is told to go. He simply goes back, Mary with him. Circumstances force him to settle in Nazareth.

6. Repetition

7. Repetition of the Week

PRAYER FOR WHAT I WANT:
Lord Jesus Christ,
How intimately You desired to know us,
starting among us as an infant,
leaving nothing out.
Your love ties You to us -
even when some among us drive You away
into all kinds of exile.
But You just keep coming back to Your saints and holy ones.
Lord, I say yes to Your being here housed in our flesh.
Amen.