2024 Advent Week Three - Finding Joy: Let It Rise

ADVENT (C)

WEEK TH REE

L ET I T R I SE

…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 This week we dive into what fully awake, fully present, fully open it means for joy to come from to recognize the light and to share it within… in all that we say and do. The power The third week of Advent invites us of light penetrates and dispels all to ground ourselves in joy, even amid darkness. strife, and let that joy well up.

The tone of our dominant culture is quite different. All things Christmas are ready for purchase even before Halloween. “Are you ready for Christmas?” is the conversation 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?

Allow for the unexpected to bring you joy. Allow yourself to feel this joy in everyday life. The everyday is what life is all about. So revel in the small moments of joy and feel their effect.

Let’s go!

Be good. Keep your feet dry and your eyes open, your heart at peace and your soul in the joy of Christ.

THOMAS MERTON

MARIA SHRIVER

Through all the tumult and the strife I hear that music ringing It finds an echo in my soul How can I keep from singing?

CHRISTIAN HYMN

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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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How can you be open, willing to listen, and engage with a heart that’s fully alive?

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VIDEO REFLECTION

Let It Rise 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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“If joy really is an inside job ... nothing external to us can take joy from us.”

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PAUSE TO INTEGRATE

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What deeper joy grounds you and allows your soul to sing?

Where in your life do you experience it?

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How can you look for the things that give you joy?

How will you let that joy well up?

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How can you release an inner joy so that your experience of the world is grounded and calm amidst whatever else is happening in the world around you?

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God of joy, help me to discover anew a joyful heart. Help me to feel joy. Help me to know joy. Help me to spread joy. Help me to be joy.

With a joyful heart, may all those who come into my presence feel more loved and healed.

Amen.

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Readings for the Third Sunday in Advent READING ONE

Zep 3:14–18a READING TWO

Phil 4:4–7 GOSPEL

Lk 3:10-18

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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

Oprah’s Super Soul: “The Seeds”

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 POEM:

“Joy Chose You” by Donna Ashworth found in Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days

“I Dwell in Possibility”

by Emily Dickinson found in The Poems of Emily Dickinson

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