November 30 was the first Sunday of Advent this year, so we’re already a week in! Would you like to make space for hope, peace, joy and love this Advent?
One way to focus on our goals of caring for one another and all of creation, is to follow the practices of the Advent Simplicity Challenge. The Challenge is hosted by the Ignatian Solidarity Network and can be found by searching Advent Simplicity and selecting the Ignatian Solidarity site.
There, you can sign up to receive daily email reminders to check the online Advent calendar for daily scripture and suggestions to live simply during a season that can often become focused on busyness and consumerism.
The daily calendar provides:
Dear Jesus, you are the hope in our messy world.
This Advent, help us slow down, listen to your voice,
and focus on what's really important.
We place our hope in you as we prepare our hearts
to celebrate your birth on Christmas. Amen.
As we strive for simplicity this Advent, we might recall St. Francis of Assisi, who originated the nativity scene that has become a beloved worldwide Christmas tradition. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls Francis of Assisi “the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically….He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” (LS’ 10)
One way to focus on our goals of caring for one another and all of creation, is to follow the practices of the Advent Simplicity Challenge. The Challenge is hosted by the Ignatian Solidarity Network and can be found by searching Advent Simplicity and selecting the Ignatian Solidarity site.
There, you can sign up to receive daily email reminders to check the online Advent calendar for daily scripture and suggestions to live simply during a season that can often become focused on busyness and consumerism.
The daily calendar provides:
- Practical tips to live gently on the earth
- Advocacy opportunities
- Art, music, film
- Suggestions for personal prayer and reflection
Dear Jesus, you are the hope in our messy world.
This Advent, help us slow down, listen to your voice,
and focus on what's really important.
We place our hope in you as we prepare our hearts
to celebrate your birth on Christmas. Amen.
As we strive for simplicity this Advent, we might recall St. Francis of Assisi, who originated the nativity scene that has become a beloved worldwide Christmas tradition. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls Francis of Assisi “the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically….He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” (LS’ 10)