The Prior Provincial, Fr. Brendan Grady, recently wrote the following on the Season of Advent:
“On 27 November we entered the season of Advent, a time of preparation for intensifying our sense of desire for the touch of God. During Advent we become awakened and alert to the signs of this divine approach. This season helps us to welcome God anew in the birth of Christ at Christmas.
Over the four weeks of Advent, we might wish to read or listen to the hopes of aching hearts in the prophet Isaiah and the other prophets of the Old Testament of the bible. They dream of a promised experience of blessed and purpose-filled life. In the New Testament, we can hear the summons of John the Baptist who calls upon the people of his day and ours to prepare a way for God. With him, we hear the summons to make straight the way that leads to God. We put aside self-destructive attitudes and patterns of behaviour. They can so easily deceive and entrap us. We allow ourselves to be drawn into a new hope that is incarnated – made real and tangible – in the person of Jesus.
