2024 Advent Week One - Finding Joy: Awaken Your Heart

ADVENT (C)

WEEK ON E

AWAKEN YO UR H EA RT

…but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

JO H N 1 6 :2 2

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

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dvent. What a sacred time For those of us with a desire to of the year! The Christian engage in the season of Advent, faith invites us to embrace there is inner tension. The Spirit this season as an experience draws us inward while the world of expectant waiting – to open forces us outward toward a frenzied ourselves to a spiritual kind of pursuit of something that rarely pregnancy while we rely on patient satisfies. How do we reconcile this hope for the dawning of new life… tension? We don’t have to only new life for our broken world and acknowledge the way the Spirit is for our less than perfect selves. moving us inwardly. We don’t have We are asked to allow ourselves to to rebuke the sentimentality of the experience the darkness, and to holiday rush. The invitation of the open ourselves to a radical trust season is to allow our inner longings that new life WILL emerge. From to emerge and to be patient with this faith perspective, we are called them. Perhaps we can be intentional inward to listen deeply and to let go about practicing Advent again this of anything that gets in the way of year and, instead of resenting the hearing God’s gentle, loving voice tension, embrace it with joy? within us. Without distraction, we are As we walk this joyful journey fully awake, fully present, fully open together, this week we focus on the to recognize the light and to share it heart... in all that we say and do. The power of light penetrates and dispels all This Advent, consider the essence darkness. of joy. What is joy? Where do we find it? What makes joy distinctive from The tone of our dominant culture is happiness? How is joy experienced quite different. All things Christmas in a world torn by division, war, are ready for purchase even before oppression, hardship, confusion, Halloween. “Are you ready for chaos, and all of the other anxieties Christmas?” is the conversation of daily living? of the day. Thrown into a time of busyness, the hype and the glitz of a storybook Christmas strip us of the fullness of the power of Advent.

Mary Anne Sladich-Lantz Mary Anne has dedicated the majority of her career to ensuring that health care leaders have all that they need to remain faithful to the Catholic Mission while

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responding to the signs of the times.

Through her leadership, Providence has developed a ministry leadership formation program that has been highly regarded as best in class.

Only have a minute?

Start here.

Choose just one piece of content gathered here and dig deep: What does it say to you about joy? Can you point to an example in your own life?

Choose joy in all circumstances, for it is a sign of a grateful heart.

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it.

CATHERINE OF SIENA

MARY OLIVER

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man. LUKE 21:34-36

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PAUSE TO INTEGRATE

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How do you reconcile the tension between the chaos of the world and the desire for stillness in Advent?

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Where can you seek peace today?

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As you think about joining our “joyful journey,” where and when have you experienced joy today?

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VIDEO REFLECTION

Awaken Your Heart A reflection courtesy of Mary Anne Sladich-Lantz. The Catholic Health Association extends its thanks to Providence St. Joseph Health for the use of its recording studio and to David Solheim for his on-site direction.

CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO

Filmed at Providence Studios, Renton, Wa.

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“Staying fully alive takes vigilance. It doesn’t just happen.”

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PAUSE TO INTEGRATE

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Give yourself some time to check in with your heart.

Where do you start?

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How do you know if your heart has become drowsy?

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When you check in with yourself and you find your heart to be drowsy, what can you do to wake it up?

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Compassionate God, whose heart is never drowsy: Help me to be fully present this week to all that comes my way. Make my heart like yours – alert, awake, aware and open. Fill my heart with a joy that is life giving and healing so that your love may be revealed to the world through my actions.

Amen.

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Readings for the First Sunday in Advent READING ONE

Jer 33:14–16 READING TWO

1 Thes 3:12–4:2 GOSPEL

Lk 21:25-28, 34–36

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Easy Listening SCAN FOR PODCAST

Songs, podcast episodes, and more to incorporate into your Advent reflections and accompany your daily routine.

PODCAST EPISODE:

SCAN FOR PLAYLIST

The Science of Happiness: “Happiness Break, Tap into the Joy that Surrounds You”

ADVENT PLAYLIST:

Read On A few more bits of spiritual nourishment for joy in any season. See chausa.org/advent for an even more extensive list.

A POEM:

A BOOK:

“Don’t Hesitate” by Mary Oliver found in Devotions

Chasing Joy: Musings on Life in a Bittersweet World by Edward Hays

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