{"id":1892,"date":"2012-12-24T23:02:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T23:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/"},"modified":"2012-12-24T23:02:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T23:02:00","slug":"bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must \u201cfind the miraculous amid the ordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cChristmas declares that our world is not insignificant. Christmas declares that we are worth being loved. Christmas affirms that God walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ; that he loves us enough to become like us, to suffer, and to die,\u201d Bishop Conley said in his Dec. 21 column in the Southern Nebraska Register.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThrough the Incarnation, Christ shows us the true value and dignity of everyday life. Christ shows the possibility of overcoming the sin that leads to tragedies like the murders in Connecticut last week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe bishop said that the murder of 20 children and six adults in a Newtown, Conn. elementary school Dec. 14 makes some people \u201cdoubt that a God of total love could tolerate the existence of such evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHowever, Bishop Conley countered that God's love is \u201cbeyond measure\u201d and in his eyes \u201csmall things, simple things, are beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThat is why the maker of the farthest galaxies reaches out to us with the hand of a newborn child,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe are small, but greatly loved by God. Our world is flawed, but not beyond redemption. And Christ has lowered himself to our level in order to raise us up to his, for all eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBishop Conley wrote that Christmas challenges those who believe that God is \u201cfar from us,\u201d but it also challenges believers who do not live as if God is near.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe must learn to see things as God does. To him, nothing is insignificant and no one is forgotten,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cLike the shepherds on Christmas night, we are called to find the miraculous amid the ordinary. The greatest mystery, God\u2019s love for us, always lies hidden in plain sight. Nothing is ordinary when seen in light of the Incarnation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe encouraged Christians to find Jesus in \u201cordinary\u201d places like daily work and in their neighbors and in the poor.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cGrace is there \u2013 and everywhere else,\u201d Bishop Conley said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cGod\u2019s transcendent goodness and beauty are not far-off abstractions. The one who has faith, and an open heart, can find them everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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

Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/\",\"name\":\"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind","description":"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind","og_description":"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/","name":"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-24T23:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Lincoln, Neb., Dec 24, 2012 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb., says Christmas shows that God is truly with mankind despite the evils of the world, which means Christians must “find the miraculous amid the ordina...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/12\/bishop-conley-christmas-shows-god-is-with-mankind\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bishop Conley: Christmas shows God is with mankind"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}