Catholic Identity and Mission 

Sunday was the First Sunday of Advent

The word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’.

Lighting the candles on the wreath symbolises the coming of light (Jesus) into the world. 

The first candle (violet) represents hope, the second (violet) peace, the third (rose) joy, and the fourth (violet) love. 

The central white candle is lit on Christmas Day and represents Christ. 

This Advent, we will learn, act and pray for a more just and fairer world – a world full of hope, peace, joy and love, where we realise that ‘everything is connected’.

Making the Advent Wreath a daily focus in your family home.

The Advent Wreath helps us focus on the coming of Christ at Christmas. And, as Pope Francis reminds us, this coming of Christ ‘is the foundation of our hope.’ (Angelus 27 November 2022).

If you don’t have an Advent wreath, consider making one. 

(Instructions can be found at www.caritas.org.au/advent)

First Week of Advent 

Hope

“The future is not monochrome; if we are courageous, we can contemplate it in all the variety and diversity of what each individual person has to offer. How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace, without all of us having to be the same!” Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti n100

Today we begin a new year in the Christian community, starting once again the cycle of celebration that sustains us in every season. 

We begin our preparation for the birth of Jesus and then, before long, we will enter once again into making ready to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. 

It is always a little different, depending on where we are on life’s journey, but we are challenged by the same events every year and asked to grow deeper in faith.

This is the theme of this week’s readings. The future doesn’t just fall from the sky. We have a part in building it. 

The readings remind us that there are many things God would like to see take place in the world and there is much that has been entrusted to us to ensure it. 

Jeremiah 33:14–16

The prophet Jeremiah says, ‘the days are coming.’ They are not here yet. 

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

Likewise, St Paul looks to our future, one in which we make ‘progress’ and embrace more wholeheartedly the kind of life God wants for us. The key to this is love for the whole human race. Our community has no solid boundaries

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Luke’s Gospel has no time for the kind of platitudes that often bring in the new year. It says that things are going to be difficult, not to mention confusing. People are going to be fearful and bewildered. Yet this is the path to liberation. God wants us to stay awake. To be fully alive. Hope is an activity, not an emotion. It is a plan, not wishful thinking.

Bishop Greg’s Advent Message

(Click on the image below to view video message)