In view of Advent

We just got our seasonal letter from Mother General, a bit of spiritual wisdom for the days ahead. For us those "days ahead" are especially the feast of our Founder, Blessed James Alberione (Nov. 26) and the season of Advent. Since Sr. Antonieta took part in the recent Synod on the Word of God, she offered the marvelous suggestion of using four of the images from the Synod's "Final Message" as our Advent guide: God’s voice (Revelation), his face (Jesus Christ), his home (the Church), and his path (mission).

Let us live this time of grace together, in communion, emphasizing each Sunday these four icons as the four principal points of our journey–metaphors of the direction in which we want to move in time, space and cyberspace. For each symbol, we could light a candle to remind us of an aspect of our life and mission in the world today:

1^st Sunday: God’s voice: let us light the candle that signifies listening to him
2^nd Sunday: God’s face: let us light the candle that signifies meeting him
3^rd Sunday: God’s home: let us light the candle that signifies welcoming him
4^th Sunday: God’s path: let us light the candle that signifies our journey toward him.

And she offers this Advent prayer, from Pope Benedict:

“Come, Lord Jesus! Come into your world as only you know how to do. Come to every place marked by injustice and violence. Come to the refugee camps of Darfur, North Kivu and many other parts of the world. Come to the places dominated by drugs. Come to the rich who have forgotten you and who live for themselves alone. Come to all the places where you are unknown. Come in your own way and renew today’s world. Come also to our hearts and revitalize our way of living. Come to us so that we too might become the light of God, your presence. In this spirit we pray with St. Paul: ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!’ (1 Co. 16:23). Let us pray that Christ will be truly present today in our world and renew it. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!”

I think this is such a great idea, I hope to post these again, week by week, through Advent, and maybe find a way to create a little Advent flyer that you can download for your families.