from an Advent letter of G. Gregory Gay, C.M., former Superior General.

A practical application

During Advent, I invite you to be more in tune with the Word of God that the Church presents us on a daily basis. We all know that in this special time of the year there is a richness in the Word of God that calls us all to personal and communal conversion, giving us at the same time the grace to edify those with whom we live and inviting us to be instruments in the transformation of our world. I encourage everyone to reflect on God’s Word daily. The experience of lectio divina is an easy practice that we all know and use. We can do it very simply, perhaps before retiring in the evening, by reading over God’s Word and seeing what common theme exists between the first reading and the Gospel. Reflecting on that Word before sleeping each night and again in the morning when we awake, we could ask ourselves the question: “What does God’s Word say to me in my actual living situation?”

In community, I encourage you to share the Word of God during Advent. Perhaps the most edifying way would be to share the Sunday readings with one another. A good practice could be to gather for an hour to listen to the Word of God for the following Sunday and then share that Word, asking what it says to us individually, what it says to us as a community. After spending an hour or so sharing the Word, we could spend some time exchanging experiences that occurred during the week. Let us laugh and just enjoy one another’s company. It is a real way of deepening our communal reflection on the Word of God and living out that Word in community.

I would also like to encourage you to come together during Advent with the people with whom you share the apostolate, or gather with other groups of the Vincentian Family, to reflect together on some theme that the Word of God highlights during Advent. I am amazed by the way people can easily relate the Word to their own life situations. It is a beautiful faith experience that certainly edifies me and can help to challenge us all. What does the Word of God say in terms of our own reality? In terms of our family situations? In terms of life in our neighborhood, our country, or in the world in which we are living? What is God’s Word saying? To what is God’s Word calling us individually, or as a faith community, or as members of the Vincentian Family? As we all know too well, more often than not, we are evangelized by those whom we are called to evangelize. Let us reflect on God’s Word so that it challenges us, as Family, to be a prophetic voice to the poor.

These are some suggestions I offer you, this Advent season. The Word of God is rich in itself. Let the Spirit speak to you and lead you, individually, communally, together with the people with whom you share your ministry, together as the Vincentian Family.

May Mary, ever attentive to the Word of God, help us to be docile to the voice of the Spirit. Through her intercession, I ask the Lord to bless you and fill each of you with all the joy and peace that he comes to bring us at Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Your brother in St. Vincent,
G. Gregory Gay, C.M.

See also: The series “A Vincentian Reading of the Sunday readings”