Today is one of three Ember Days that come after the feast of St Lucy on Dec 13. Pray for the ministry of the church.

   Psalm 119:49

Remember 

your 

word 

to 

your 

servant, 

because 

you have given me hope. 

To my mind, one of the most astounding sentences in the New Testament is: “And the angel departed.” And there Mary was, pregnant, unmarried, alone.  Elizabeth knew, in time, that she was carrying  the Son of God. And thank goodness Joseph knew, having been reassured by an angel. (How could she have ever explained?!)  I imagine Mary praying, hanging on to these words through the long  months of her pregnancy, through the uncomfortable trip to Bethlehem and the birth on that cold night But  it didn't end there - through the years of  his growing up, through the years of his ministry,  and finally thorough the excruciating death she watched him endure,. In the darkness, don’t you think she wondered “The angel said what?” And so each of us struggles with the knowledge of what is ours alone to do and we each pray in our own heart “Remember your word to me. You have given me hope, now give me strength to see it through wherever it leads.... .”