Advent 2013: Pray - Study - Act
In This Issue
PRAY: Reflection for First Sunday of Advent
STUDY: Unshakeable Belief: Advent 2013
ACT: Join vigil on Dec. 1 for those with HIV, AIDS
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First Week of Advent, Dec. 1-7, 2013
  
 
This Advent, as we await the birth of the Peace of Christ, we remember that, in this wilderness, we are called to prepare the way...

"A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low; The rugged land shall be a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of God shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."(Isaiah 2:4)

This passage from Isaiah appears the second week of Advent. In his reflection on this passage in this year's Advent reflection booklet, Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Msgr. Ray East writes:

"We must fearlessly sing out the advent of our God. Our lyrics voice a dichotomy: our God comes with power but also appears as a gentle shepherd who feeds the flock. These tones of strength and compassion, power and salvation, are typical of Advent..."

We are the ones called to "fearlessly sing out" and to prepare the way this season. 
   As we do each year, we'll be sending out reflections and resources which we hope will help you and your community to pray, study and act for peace with justice this Advent season. We'll send an Advent PSA e-bulletin each week through New Year's highlighting some of these resources. For additional Advent resources, we hope you'll visit our Advent resource page on the website. We'll be adding more to the page each week throughout the season. If you have something you think others would be interested in, send it my way and I will try to include as many as I can!

 

In peace,

Johnny Zokovitch
Director of Communications, Pax Christi USA
 PRAY: Dec. 1, First Sunday of Advent

By Darlene Pryds

 

Isaiah 2:1-5 | Romans 13:11-14 | Matthew 24:37-44

 

"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your God is coming" (Matt. 24:42)

 

Advent is a time of waiting in anticipation for the arrival of Christ. The challenge for us today is to really wait for that birth without planning and without assuming we know when and how Christ will appear in our lives.

   Babies arrive on their own time. As I write this, just yesterday the wife of a colleague gave birth. Because of complications, labor was induced early in the morning, so we knew it was coming. A request for prayers was sent out. After a few hours, people started checking in to hear the latest word. Hours passed and another email update related that mom was still in labor...

 

STUDY: Unshakeable Belief: Advent 2013
For this year's Advent reflection booklet, we asked the authors to reflect on this Advent season's readings and to share from their perspective and experiences, focusing on Pax Christi USA's Spirituality of Nonviolence and Peacemaking priority. We asked them to share their hope and their wisdom for the journey.
   The priority, "Spirituality of Nonviolence and Peacemaking," means that Pax Christi USA promotes Christian nonviolence on the personal, communal, national and international levels.
We believe in the Gospel call to conversion as found in the Beatitudes. Pax Christi USA denounces and resists the evils
of violence while striving to reflect the Peace of Christ.
   The authors of this year's reflection booklet are  Darleen Pryds, professor of Christian Spirituality and History at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, CA; Msgr. Ray East, Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace and pastor of St. Teresa of Avila parish in Washington, D.C.; Kimberly Mazyck, Pax Christi USA National Council member and Church Relations Manager for Catholic Relief Services; and Dr. Alex Mikulich, Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team member and Research Fellow at the Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University in New Orleans.
   The booklet is an excellent resource for individuals, families or small groups, as well as an introduction to Pax Christi USA's work and mission for someone new. There are reflections on each day's scriptural readings throughout the season.

 

ACT: Join 24-hour prayer vigil on December 1st for those with AIDS and HIV

from our friends in the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns 

 

Maryknoll missioners have worked in ministries focused on persons living with HIV and AIDS since the early 1980s, before the extent of the pandemic would be known, long before the loss of millions of lives from AIDS. In the ensuing years, Maryknollers have accompanied people dying of AIDS, worked with children orphaned by AIDS, supported women and girl children who are at risk of violence or sexual abuse, and witnessed the direct impact of debt, trade issues and poverty on societies being decimated by AIDS.

   First held in 1988, World AIDS Day is commemorated every year on December 1. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 33.4 million people around the world are currently living with HIV/AIDS; more than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since the first cases were reported in 1981. While cases have been reported in all regions of the world, almost all those living with HIV (97 percent) reside in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them have limited or no access to prevention, care, and treatment; no cure exists.

   On December 1, join the 24-hour vigil to pray for those living with HIV and AIDS and for those whose lives were cut short due to HIV or AIDS.

 

Use this link to add your name and the time when you wish to pray on Sunday, December 1. 

 

* Hours are posted according to Eastern Standard Time. Convert as needed.