Third Sunday of Advent (2)

As Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will.” if believe received then prayer itself should be thankful.

As Phil 4:4-6 says, petition should always be with thanksgiving along with the command again to rejoice always

prayer at core is raising heart and mind to God

this means we will be thinking of God

God is eternal and the good

the eternal is present outside time

the good is positive

Therefore praying involves thinking positively now in the most perfect way possible

c. What thankfulness is

i. And this is thankfulness: “thoughtful Good Now”

think=thank

ii. Good

Now

Rejoicing, Gaudete

Often expressed by leaping or crying out or a great smile,

but what does it mean to rejoice at core?

rejoice in heart?

Be completely happy in mind

what is it to be happy, but to have positive thought in mind about now without any lack?

But what does thinking positively now sound like

prayer and thanksgiving (fully positive thought now)

indeed only fully positive b/c only God is.

3 is 1

prayer, thanksgiving, rejoicing

they all end up in the same place, happiness

Although now our seeing God is lacking, so is our prayer, thankfulness and rejoicing, its best we got

Don’t expect happiness without prayer

a. For how can you ever think positively now? (happiness) If you never think positively about now??

must be John the Baptist to ourselves

prepare way b/c he infinite we finite

at best you only will get passing tastes of it from passing limited goods that never stay in the present.

the great liar lies to get you to think happiness lies in them

d. Constant temptation

If prayer, rejoicing, thankfulness then 2 ways devil attacks:

not thinking of the Good

thinking things separate God

either

lesser goods without God or

evils without God’s providence

nothing is fully good but God, so ~positive thinking unless God

not thinking of eternal present

i. Life is full about thinking about the NEXT thing, not the NOW.

ii. Think about the next toy, the next event, the coming weekend,

iii. New tech makes us scroll through feed, to find the next video, the next post, the next NEWS

1. We become addicted to not being thankful, prayerful, or rejoicing, addicted to the NEXT thing

2. mind like glue, if push it onto something for a while it starts to stick to it.

3. But it goes both ways, we can try and stick it more to the NOW.

DONT let phones and tech and news form an igrained anti-prayer habit

e. God’s identity

ii. name is I AM, not I was or I will., I AM, totally that which is, no negation, pure positivity found in the present NOW ALWAYS.

2. Therefore, Gaudete

Notes

PRAY WITHOUT ceasing… Be St. John yourself to your own mind

give thanks always

Gaudate Sunday

Commentators

Origen

everyone was expecting the Christ around then (mentions 2 false messiahs who took advantage of that)

Chrysostom

John was more respected by Jews on account of son of one of chief priest

Gregory

if man reject right to a wife, and next in line comes loosens his shoe, it means to take up right to that wife

Pitre

baptism was required for worship/enter temple (holiness)

baptism jsut means submersion or washing

untying sandals task of slaves and washing

Isaiah

‘anointed me’ messiahed me

proclaim Gospel

St. Thomas and John Damascene

prayer is raising mind up to God

CCC

2558 relation w/ God, goes on about lifting heart to God.

Third Sunday of Advent (2)

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Notes