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I'm Father Jim Martin. I'm about to lead you through a traditional Jesuit prayer that will help you

notice where God has been in your day. But first, let's begin with

our weekly reflection, which is released every Sunday. How is your Advent going? Last week, I talked

about doing less for Advent so that you could pray more and enjoy the readings

more and enter more deeply into the liturgical season.

Now I know for some of you that may not seem to be much of an option.

If you have a family, perhaps a big extended family or a family with young children, Christmas

may be the busiest time of the year.

So even if you can't quite pull back on those kinds of responsibilities,

I would invite you to carve out some time for yourself for prayer and meditation.

In fact, if you're super busy at Christmas,

that may be all the more reason to give yourself

some private one-on-one time with God. St. Francis DeSales, the story goes, was once asked

how long people should pray. A half hour, he is supposed to have said, unless the person is busy.

If they're busy, then they should pray for

an hour. What is often helpful during Advent is to let one passage from the daily or Sunday

readings take root in you. For me, it's often a passage from the book of Isaiah, with its wonderful

pastoral imagery of the dry lands blooming and deserts becoming

...