So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." ( Mt 24,44 ) Advent opens a season of promise.  It invites us to move forward with hopeful and peaceful hearts  and with the gentle expectancy that accompanies waiting. Yet, this waiting is not passive: it is joyful, alert, and filled with wonder. We wait for the coming of the Lord — for the Child whose birth reveals the depth of God’s love for us. As St Augustine of Hippo wrote, “

"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." ( Lc 23:43 ) In celebrating the Feast of Christ the King we conclude the Church's liturgical year. This glorious feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the Jubilee Year and the 16 th  centenary of the Council of Nicaea. We celebrate that Christ is King of the kingdom in which we already live. To the question, what does this kingdom look like? Gerald Darring (St Louis University's Centre for Liturg

By your perseverance you will secure your lives." (Lc 21,19) The village of Stonemere lay quiet beneath a darkened sky. Smoke rose from the chimneys, but hearts were heavy; the mines had all closed and winter had come early. Among the villagers lived Miriam, a widow who had lost so much—her husband to the mines, her home to debt, and her health to the many years of struggle. Yet every morning, she would light a single candle at her window and whisper, “The Lord is near.” One