{"id":2174,"date":"2016-12-29T23:50:51","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T23:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2016-12-29T23:50:51","modified_gmt":"2016-12-29T23:50:51","slug":"a-lingering-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html","title":{"rendered":"A Lingering Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image
Image courtesy of StuartMiles\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Merry Christmas and, still, Blessed Advent!<\/p>\n

Yes, we have passed the Advent Season, that annual time of waiting, but I still carry some of the graces from those days with me. Perhaps you do, too. A sense of comfort at the extra quiet and prayer for insight. A gratitude at the many blessings God has given us. Even, perhaps, a more pronounced feeling of tenderness for ourselves and others who suffer. Advent can wash us in God’s love and renew us in His glorious light, and our awareness of these need not vanish when December 25 dawns and it is, Hallelujah!, Christmas!<\/p>\n

If Christmas joy is difficult to embrace\u00a0because of personal pain, disappointment, loneliness or other blanket of sorrow, a return to the heart of Advent can help lift us up. \u00a0There, we can have permission to pray, direction to meditate on Isaiah or one of the Gospels. Through remembering and marking Advent even after Christmas, we can address our particular stresses; Advent takes patience, and if we work a little harder on acquiring more patience, we can relax more and stress less.<\/p>\n

In Advent, we anticipate Christmas. Now that Christmas 2015 has come and gone, we can anticipate the next anew, and even plan for it tangibly. Mark the calendar for times of prayer or schedule in extra spiritually-centered activities.<\/p>\n

Through Advent, we can better understand our reaction and relationship to the larger “wait,” the time when we will be singing with the angels in our forever heavenly home. We can rejoice that our lives will then not repeat a sometimes-difficult cycle of waiting and arrival and more waiting, but rather will be fulfilled, along with all people of faith.<\/p>\n

I pray that your Christmas was splendid and filled with light and song. But if it wasn’t what you expected or had hoped for, there’s nothing wrong with turning back the clock a bit. Revisit Advent and the prayers, bible passages and process that it offers. For that is a blessed gift, too!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merry Christmas and, still, Blessed Advent! Yes, we have passed the Advent Season, that annual time of waiting, but I still carry some of the graces from those days with me. Perhaps you do, too. A sense of comfort at the extra quiet and prayer for insight. A gratitude at the many blessings God has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Lingering Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Lingering Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Merry Christmas and, still, Blessed Advent! Yes, we have passed the Advent Season, that annual time of waiting, but I still carry some of the graces from those days with me. Perhaps you do, too. A sense of comfort at the extra quiet and prayer for insight. A gratitude at the many blessings God has…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-29T23:50:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/Chihuahua-typing-by-Stuart-Miles-300x236.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Lingering Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Lingering Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Merry Christmas and, still, Blessed Advent! Yes, we have passed the Advent Season, that annual time of waiting, but I still carry some of the graces from those days with me. Perhaps you do, too. A sense of comfort at the extra quiet and prayer for insight. A gratitude at the many blessings God has…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2016-12-29T23:50:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/Chihuahua-typing-by-Stuart-Miles-300x236.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html","name":"A Lingering Advent - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/Chihuahua-typing-by-Stuart-Miles-300x236.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-29T23:50:51+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-29T23:50:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/Chihuahua-typing-by-Stuart-Miles-300x236.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/09\/Chihuahua-typing-by-Stuart-Miles-300x236.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/12\/a-lingering-advent.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Lingering Advent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2176,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions\/2176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}