This is the third week of Advent. This week we light the rose-coloured joy candle on the Advent wreath. It is a beautiful time of the year to celebrate all that brings us joy as we wait in joyful anticipation for that time when we allow Christ to be born in our hearts. Joy and gratitude permeate this week.
Heidi Hess Saxton, in her beautiful book Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta, writes, ‘This week, take courage and reclaim the present moment for the gift that it is. Take some time away from the daily rush … Find a way to reconnect with the simple joy of living as we recall the gentle words of St Teresa, who urges us to experience the unadorned presence of the living God. “If your heart is full of worldly things, you cannot hear the voice of God. But when you have listened to his voice in the silence of your heart, then your heart is filled … when you look at people, they must be able to see God in your eyes.”’
This week brings us ever closer to the celebration of Christmas and the coming of the reign of God. We are invited, through prayer and reflection, to come to a deeper understanding of the vision of God’s reign of justice, peace and mercy that was lived and proclaimed by Jesus.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Luke 4:18–19)
It is this vision that we are called to embody and incarnate, with joy, in our own world every Christmas and every day.
READ: Ready for Silence – Madeleine L’Engle
WATCH: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude – Louie Schwartzberg
CONSIDER: Write your own Gratitude Prayer as you look back on the experiences of this year
Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta: Daily Meditations by Heidi Hess Saxton is available to purchase at Veritas bookstores.