2024 Advent Week Four - Finding Joy: Seek the Light

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

JOHN 16:22

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Advent. What a sacred time of the year! The Christian faith invites us to embrace this season as an experience of expectant waiting – to open ourselves to a spiritual kind of pregnancy while we rely on patient hope for the dawning of new life… new life for our broken world and for our less than perfect selves. We are asked to allow ourselves to experience the darkness, and to open ourselves to a radical trust that new life WILL emerge. From this faith perspective, we are called inward to listen deeply and to let go of anything that gets in the way of hearing God’s gentle, loving voice within us. Without distraction, we are fully awake, fully present, fully open to recognize the light and to share it in all that we say and do. The power of light penetrates and dispels all darkness.

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.

For those of us with a desire to engage in the season of Advent, there is inner tension. The Spirit draws us inward while the world forces us outward toward a frenzied pursuit of something that rarely satisfies. How do we reconcile this tension? We don’t have to only acknowledge the way the Spirit is moving us inwardly. We don’t have to rebuke the sentimentality of the holiday rush. The invitation of the season is to allow our inner longings to emerge and to be patient with them. Perhaps we can be intentional about practicing Advent again this year and, instead of resenting the tension, embrace it with joy?

This week, we reflect on light’s presence in the darkness...

As we consider how Advent joy invites us out of darkness and fear, open yourself to the spiritual practice of noticing the light.

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

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?

I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.

BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

WENDELL BERRY

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

LUKE 1:26-30

1

Where and when have you experienced joy this week?

2

How can you continue to seek light in the darkness?

Seek the Light

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.

“Darkness and death give way to light and life.”

1

2

What circumstances or relationships might bloom if you were willing to let joy be a nutrient for growth?

3

What faithful practice or habit reminds you of light’s power in the darkness? What has it taught you most recently?

Write a prayer of thanks for the glimmers of light you’ve seen in the last few days. Be specific.

God of light, it is in your light that we see light. May I let the light of your love within me show forth for all the world to see. May your light fill me with such hope that there is never a reason to fear. Oh God, please find favor with me, and like Mary, may your will be done unto me as you will.

Amen.

Readings

for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

READING ONE

Mic 5:1–4a

READING TWO

Heb 10:5–10

GOSPEL

Lk 1:39-45

Easy Listening

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

PODCAST EPISODE:

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler: “Life After Loss” with Jerry Sittser

ADVENT PLAYLIST:

Read On

A POEM: “The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973” by Madeleine L’Engle found in The Ordering of Love: New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle,

A BOOK: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

A BOOK: Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler