In most years this week can be a watershed encounter with the holy.

The Thanksgiving holiday brings us to the start of the Advent Season. We have the opportunity to reflect in two directions - thankful for that which has been, even in difficult times, and at the same time anticipating the start of a new liturgical year: the celebration of the Incarnation and the hope of peace that is glimpsed as possible in the year to come.

As people of faith this time is holy if we see in it the passage of time and circumstance as our forebears understood them. Once again God creates in our temporal experience the possibility for us to dream big dreams and to have great hopes.

This week I invite you to run with energy and confidence into the possibilities that God creates for us. Let the past hurts, disappointments and failures disappear into the future God has in store for you in God's grace. Be thankful for all that has been a part of the past, and anticipate all that God promises.

The Incarnation is made real again and again in our embrace of what God makes possible in the fullness of time. Recognize your part in that incarnate body of Christ in the world and choose to live a life of thanksgiving, a life of anticipation of God's loving grace and mercy.

A blessed Thanksgiving & a holy beginning of Advent!

In Christ,

Bishop Provenzano