Waiting … we have grown  accustomed to waiting. Waiting for the pandemic to crest, waiting for a vaccine, for reopening and for countermeasures. Waiting at home, waiting to see loved ones, family and friends. But, hope springs eternal. 

As 2020 draws to a close, we hope to enter into another form of waiting: preparing the way for our Savior, Jesus Christ. While we sit with our fears, losses and our hopes and move forward into the new year, we can rest assured of the certainty that God will be there, too, through all of it. For us it is a time of waiting in joyful hope.

We welcome new, and seasoned parishiones to gather with us in waiting prayerfully and reading our parish-wide chosen booklet, Daily Reflections for Advent & Christmas: Waiting in Joyful Hope 2020-2021. With scripture, reflections, meditations, and prayers every day of advent, coupled with weekly small groups to share what we prayed and reflected upon, we hope that the experience will bring the scriptures alive in our conversation and within our daily lives.

Authored by chemistry professor, Michelle Francl-Donnay, the introduction highlights our need to find the light in the darkness: “I find in Advent not so much a refuge from the demands of my life and of the world as a series of mysterious contradictions that leave me slightly off balance. The Scriptures of this season promise us light in the midst of the darkness, but they also make clear the demands the kindling of such a light place upon us. They disrupt my preconceptions about what it means that God has come to dwell among us, forcing me to come face-to-face with what it means for me, here and now, to encounter God in human form. These readings put flesh on hope.”

There is not cost to register for Advent Small Groups and there are many convenient and cost-effective ways to obtain a copy of our chosen text.

Let us all begin the preparation process and ring in a new year, together, more spiritually prepared than we were before!

Click Here to Read More and Register for Advent Small Groups!