Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Here at Carmel Mission we choose a theme each year for our Advent season. The theme helps to guide our spiritual preparation through Advent, as we get ready to welcome Jesus into our world at Christmas. This year has been like no other in my lifetime. The sweeping and devasting effects of the global COVID – 19 pandemic, the national reckoning on racism and racial inequality, and a divisive political environment have touched each of us in ways we could not have imagined just last Advent. As I considered a theme for this Advent that would help us process, help us heal, and help us truly prepare, I was inspired by one of the songs we often sing, or at the present time listen to, at Mass, “In God Alone Is My Hope.”
Advent is a time of great hope. We are hoping for the Light that is coming into the world. A Light that will shine in the darkness and that the darkness, any darkness, cannot begin to overcome. This hope was first held in the hearts of the Jewish people. The stories we hear in the Advent season, the readings from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the stories of Mary and Elizabeth, of John the Baptist and Joseph, are all testaments to people whose hope was in God. Their faith and their courage were fueled by their hope for the Messiah and their confidence in God’s promise.
We can do no better than to follow their example and put our hope in God alone. While our celebrations this Advent and Christmas may look superficially different from years past, at their core, they remain the same. We prepare in darkness to welcome the Light, we wait in hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are confident that Jesus, the Light of the World, is coming, and we prepare our hearts and our minds to welcome Him anew.
I wish you and your loved ones blessings of renewed hope and the great comfort of God’s Promise,
Fr. Paul
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