{"id":1608,"date":"2009-12-06T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-06T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3\/"},"modified":"2017-01-24T19:16:34","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T00:16:34","slug":"thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><i>Posted by Webster<\/i> <br>There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your Christmas card list, the pressure of putting up more lights this year than last or more lights than your neighbor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/SxvgnxDxpbI\/AAAAAAAAAno\/7C-qyd2gh1M\/s1600-h\/JohnBaptist\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/SxvgnxDxpbI\/AAAAAAAAAno\/7C-qyd2gh1M\/s320\/JohnBaptist\"><\/a>This is what I call urgency: The Lord is coming, and soon. And we are called, urged, commanded to prepare. The short reading for Morning Prayer today (Romans 13:11-12) reminds us: <\/p>\n<p><i>It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re already two years a Catholic (\u201ccloser than when I first accepted the faith\u201d). Have you fallen asleep, brother? You live in darkness, the light is coming. Are you ready for it? What do you have to do to get ready? The demand is unequivocal: Throw your dark deeds away and strap it on\u2014the \u201carmor of light.\u201d That doesn\u2019t sound like a call to pacifism or quietism, does it?<\/p>\n<p>We need to get ready. The Lord is coming, and soon.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/6738513599344023043-4897686441709847336?l=yimcatholic.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your Christmas card list, the pressure of putting up more lights this year than last or more lights than your neighbor. This is what I call urgency: The Lord is coming, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Thoughts on the LOTH for Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your\" \/>\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\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Why I Am Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-06T11:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-25T00:16:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/SxvgnxDxpbI\/AAAAAAAAAno\/7C-qyd2gh1M\/s320\/JohnBaptist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html\",\"name\":\"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-06T11:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-25T00:16:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\"},\"description\":\"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Am Catholic\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\",\"name\":\"Webster Bull\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Webster Bull\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today","description":"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your","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\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today","og_description":"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html","og_site_name":"Why I Am Catholic","article_published_time":"2009-12-06T11:50:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-25T00:16:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/SxvgnxDxpbI\/AAAAAAAAAno\/7C-qyd2gh1M\/s320\/JohnBaptist"}],"author":"Webster Bull","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webster Bull","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html","name":"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-06T11:50:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-25T00:16:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79"},"description":"Posted by Webster There\u2019s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there\u2019s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2009\/12\/thoughts-on-the-loth-for-today-3.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thoughts on the LOTH for Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/","name":"Why I Am Catholic","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79","name":"Webster Bull","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Webster Bull"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}