The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #524 says:When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”Questions to ponder: Do you have an ardent desire for our Savior’s Second Coming
Yes a blessed beginning to Advent- and yet the troubles insert themselves- so call on Jesus the Light
Nov 29 2015, 7:21 PM
Judy K: I started Advent with a resolution to read Scripture every day and to do a meditation. I have taken to writing my meditations since I know that if I simply sit and reflect, I will fall asleep. So I write to stay awake. I never wanted to journal, but I guess this is something like journaling.
5, 7:24 PM
Judy K: I do not put a limit on time. However long it takes me to write my thoughts is the limit.
Lisa C: Re the second coming of Jesus…I think the writers of the New Testament thought it would come soon, but I wonder…it has been so long…..maybe the second coming is when we die
Lisa C: No, that cannot be, because the world has to be remade perfectly
SrSusan (guest): We do meet Jesus at death but the “official: SEcond Coming is worldwide
SrSusan (guest): Jesus is speaking very specifically in today’s Scriptures about the signs
Nov 29 2015, 7:26 PM
Judy K: The first question for today helped me to focus on Advent. Advent–coming. I have an ardent desire for all of our Savior’s comings. I desire His many comings into my life, those serendipitous moments when He touches my heat with an awareness of His presence. I have an ardent desire for those special moments when He come to me in the Eucharist. Such happy comings! He fills and nurtures me. He unites Himself with me.
5, 7:27 PM
Ann: Hello guest 4736 (Brian?)
Nov 29 2015, 7:28 PM
SrSusan (guest): That’s so well expressed Judy. And sometimes His coming is when we need Him the most tho we may not feel so worthy at the moment
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Judy K: I do have an ardent desire for His coming that begins eternal life for me. Yes, I desire to be with Him forever. That will probably occur before His Second coming at the end of time. If I should live until then I will surely desire that coming that heralds eternal life for all.
Anne M: To see him “coming on the clouds” with the angels. Big SIGH is all I can do
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SrSusan (guest): Our priest this week had us imagine Him walking into our Chapel. I need Jesus so much I hope I would run to Him
Nov 29 2015, 7:30 PM
Lisa C: Oh Mother that is an amazing image, but He is right over the altar with St. Margaret Mary
Nov 29 2015, 7:30 PM
SrSusan (guest): But He is always in our Chapel!
Nov 29 2015, 7:30 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes Lisa
Nov 29 2015, 7:30 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Hi Judy , Ann , Lisa , Anne , and Sr Susan !God Bless You ! Brian
Nov 29 2015, 7:30 PM
Lisa C: Mother, I think He would run to us too
SrSusan (guest): I hope your Advent day was blessed
, 7:31 PM
Lisa C: We run to Him, but He wants us too
Nov 29 2015, 7:32 PM
SrSusan (guest): Love that thought Lisa
:32 PM
Lisa C: If the world were ending and I had my choice I would want to be in that Chapel
Nov 29 2015, 7:33 PM
SrSusan (guest): May it be so! That is where we all were on 911 thinking we might die- we stayed all day in the Chapel
Nov 29 2015, 7:33 PM
Judy K: I like to think that I too would run to Him. Today I was reflecting on a reading from Evening Prayer–dismiss all your anxieties. And I have to have so many of them lately. The reading also says that the Lord is near–not just coming in the future, but near as nearby, close to. That really made me feel His presence and was so comforting. One of serendipitous comings I mentioned.
7:34 PM
Lisa C: 911 was a very weird day
Nov 29 2015, 7:34 PM
SrSusan (guest): He does comfort us- I too had some anxieties but His Presence heals
SrSusan (guest): Advent message for today- Jesus calms us
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SrSusan (guest): Advent message for today- Jesus calms us
Nov 29 2015, 7:35 PM
Anne M: Carol Ann, you disappeared again.
Nov 29 2015, 7:35 PM
Guest5393 (guest): Thank you. Glad to join you
Nov 29 2015, 7:36 PM
Ann: Yes, he has helped me through challenges too, that I could have never faced alone.
Nov 29 2015, 7:36 PM
Carol Ann: No internet. My work tablet has 4G though
Nov 29 2015, 7:36 PM
Ann: Hello Dawn
Nov 29 2015, 7:36 PM
Judy K: What a wonderful message! I really need calming right now and I don’t even know why.
Nov 29 2015, 7:37 PM
SrSusan (guest): “I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you, having pity and mercy on you. And I will build you again, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel.” These are God’s words, and by them he promises that when the Savior comes into the world, he will establish a new kingdom in his Church, which will be his virgin spouse and true spiritual Israelite woman. …”It was not by” any merit of “works that we did ourselves, but according to his mercy that he saved us.” It was by that ancient, ra
Nov 29 2015, 7:37 PM
Carol Ann: A lot of unspecified anxieties out here too
Nov 29 2015, 7:37 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Amazing the number of stories of people whos lives were protected on 911 .A good friend of mine had his meeting at World Trade Center canceled that day ! Praise God !
Nov 29 2015, 7:37 PM
Dawn L: hi Ann. and everyone. just reading through..
Nov 29 2015, 7:37 PM
Carol Ann: Everyone is extra tired and not sleeping
Judy K: You’ve got that right Carol Ann!
Nov 29 2015, 7:38 PM
Guest5393 (guest): I think we live in stressful times and if we can make time to reflect on His words “fear not” we can gain some calmness back into our lives.
Nov 29 2015, 7:38 PM
Dawn L: Mother, beautiful Advent message for today!
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Lisa C: This is why I think everyone will be saved in the end, because we did not do anything to deserve it and God is just.
Nov 29 2015, 7:39 PM
Guest6147 (guest): We must be like the Fireman at 911 for Our Lord Jesus Christ ! We must be willing to suffer and even give up our lives soo that us will live in Christ !!!
Nov 29 2015, 7:39 PM
Judy K: My thoughts are more current–the atrocities in the Middle East and Paris and fear that it will happen here too.
l happen here too.
Nov 29 2015, 7:40 PM
Ann: That’s where my fears are too, Judy
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Lisa C: Why would God call some and not others? I do not think He would. He will gather up other people later.
Nov 29 2015, 7:40 PM
Guest6147 (guest): others will be able to live in Christ !
Nov 29 2015, 7:40 PM
Judy K: Fortunately, I do not dwell on them, but they are there.
Nov 29 2015, 7:40 PM
Dawn L: Pope Francis saying today to Uganda….do not run from this
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Anne M: and the shooting in Colorado.
Nov 29 2015, 7:40 PM
Carol Ann: Yes, Paris is making us remember, we were and are all affected
Nov 29 2015, 7:41 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: hi Ann
Nov 29 2015, 7:42 PM
Dawn L: Hi Judy, Lisa, Carol ANn, Alice, Brian, Mother….happy to be here
2015, 7:45 PM
Judy K: Here’s a prayer I shared with most of the folks in my email list: Hail and blessed be the hour and the moment in which the Son of God was born to the most pure Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, at midnight in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God to hear my prayers and grant my desires through the merits of Out Savior Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother. Amen,
Nov 29 2015, 7:45 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Hi Alice , Dawn , and Carol Ann !
Ann: Thank you for that beautiful prayer, Judy.
, 7:45 PM
Ann: Thank you for that beautiful prayer, Judy.
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
Dawn L: beautiful prayer, Judy.
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
Judy K: I have asked everyone to pray this prayer 15 times a day from Nov. 30th until Christmas with the intention of the demise of all the terrorist factions in the world.
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: Judy that is a beautiful prayer
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
Lisa C: Mother, your name is in the list twice
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes this is a weird nite I could not get it to take a comment, now I have a twin
Nov 29 2015, 7:46 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Thanks Judy !
:47 PM
Lisa C: Your twin ran away
Nov 29 2015, 7:47 PM
Guest2998 (guest): It will not let me comment either
Nov 29 2015, 7:47 PM
Judy K: Maybe all of you would forward it on to those on your e-mail lists. Think of how many more people will be pleading with the Lord for peace in the world.
Nov 29 2015, 7:47 PM
Carol Ann: Prayer is our first and best weapon agains terrorism. I pray for conversion of the terrorists before it is too late
Guest2998 (guest): Jesus tells us be anxious for nothing
7:48 PM
SrSusan (guest): His message is all about Hope
Guest2998 (guest): In colossians
Nov 29 2015, 7:49 PM
Judy K: Rejoice in the Lord always was the beginning of the reading I reflected on today. In spite of my anxieties, I do have a joy.
Guest6147 (guest): Amen Judy !!!
Nov 29 2015, 7:50 PM
Guest2998 (guest): Colossians chp1v27 telss
Nov 29 2015, 7:50 PM
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: Todays reading does say that people will have fear in the end days though
Nov 29 2015, 7:50 PM
Guest2998 (guest): Tells us our hope is in Him
Nov 29 2015, 7:50 PM
SrSusan (guest): That makes sense-it is in trial that hope and trust means the most
Nov 29 2015, 7:51 PM
SrSusan (guest): By the way next week I cannot be at chat- it is our Advent tree lighting
:51 PM
Judy K: I am reminded of the words of Peter, “Cast all your cares upon the Lord for He cares for you.” How comforting to know that He cares for us.
Nov 29 2015, 7:51 PM
Carol Ann: That sounds like fun
, 7:51 PM
Judy K: I am reminded of the words of Peter, “Cast all your cares upon the Lord for He cares for you.” How comforting to know that He cares for us.
Guest6147 (guest): Also 1Thessalonians 5 16-18 !
Nov 29 2015, 7:52 PM
Ann: You all will be in my prayers Mother, it does sound fun.
Nov 29 2015, 7:52 PM
SrSusan (guest): It is Carol Anne! The huge nativity gets lit with all the trees on the walk children are there
Carol Ann: Wow! Wish I could see it
Nov 29 2015, 7:53 PM
Judy K: I may not be here next week either. I will be attending the Sisters of Life Advent Day of Prayer and have no idea when I will get home. I am looking forward to a beautiful day. These Sisters radiate joy whenever I see them.
Dawn L: sounds like an evening full of very much joy Mother!
:53 PM
Lisa C: Do you sing Christmas carols?
Nov 29 2015, 7:54 PM
Carol Ann: I would enjoy it, I think we all might!
Nov 29 2015, 7:54 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Hope shatters the darkness ! We see Christ’s light and the opportunities He has for us to serve !
Nov 29 2015, 7:54 PM
SrSusan (guest): Yes Christmas carols too
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Dawn L: thats good Brian, that is truth! 55 PM
Judy K: The day with the Sisters begins with a choral prelude, Holy Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Advent, refreshments and more music by the Sisters. I will be on a volunteer day with them on the day before as well. Wow, lucky me!
Nov 29 2015, 7:55 PM
Guest6147 (guest): I will be praying for you all Judy !
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Dawn L: sounds like a blessed occasion Judy
Nov 29 2015, 7:56 PM
Carol Ann: You sure are. Are you staying with them overnight too, or somewhere else?
Nov 29 2015, 7:57 PM
Judy K: Thank you Brian. I know that the day will bring the Light of Christ to all of us. No Carol Ann. I will be coming home. I might even be home in time for chat, but I tend to doubt it.
, 7:57 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Thanks to all who prayed for Kairos Men last Sunday ! Amazing night sharing about obedience !!!
Nov 29 2015, 7:58 PM
Ann: I am so happy for you, Judy. I too, will be praying for you all.
Nov 29 2015, 7:58 PM
SrSusan (guest): We always try to live 4 weeks of Advent but Christmas also begins to break in early
Nov 29 2015, 7:58 PM
Carol Ann: How was Kairos?
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Judy K: I try very hard to live Advent. I don’t put up any decorations, except the wreath on my door until the 4th Sunday of Advent.
Nov 29 2015, 7:59 PM
Carol Ann: This year I have not decorated e a rly like I have before.
Nov 29 2015, 7:59 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Amazing night the Men came in down because of Thanksgiving and it was agreat night of sharing and we left with great joy in the Lord !
:00 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: That’s one reason I love living as a religious in community: We experience Advent to the full until Christmas Eve.
Mary Roberta Viano: Hello!
Nov 29 2015, 8:00 PM
Dawn L: Hi Sr Mary Roberta!
Nov 29 2015, 8:00 PM
Carol Ann: Hi sister
Nov 29 2015, 8:01 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: It’s such a beautiful, holy season of anticipation and hope, don’t you think?
Nov 29 2015, 8:02 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: We’re also looking forward to the beginning of the Year of Mercy!
Nov 29 2015, 8:02 PM
Anne M: Yes, I love Advent. the O Antiphons…
:02 PM
Carol Ann: Yes
Nov 29 2015, 8:02 PM
Judy K: I sometimes feel as if I am standing on tiptoe waiting for the Lord as a child waits for Santa Claus.
Nov 29 2015, 8:02 PM
Dawn L: I do. Today Fr said Advent, the word means Come. that is beautiful. Advent this year esp brings much hope
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Mary Roberta Viano: If you find a book of good, daily Advent readings, that will help increase your full living of this holy season.
Nov 29 2015, 8:03 PM
Carol Ann: Isn’t this also the first day of the Year of Mercy?
03 PM
Judy K: December is the beginning of the Year of Mercy.
Nov 29 2015, 8:04 PM
Judy K: December 8th
4 PM
Carol Ann: Oh, thst’s right. Thank you!
Nov 29 2015, 8:04 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Pope Francis will open the special door to signal its start on December 8th.
Nov 29 2015, 8:04 PM
Guest2998 (guest): Hi I am signed in as a guest…I was wondering how many of us are decker in a call to religious life and what are your plans through Advent to dicern
8:05 PM
Guest2998 (guest): Sorry about mistakes my keys are sticking
Nov 29 2015, 8:05 PM
SrSusan (guest): Might have one discerner here- haven’t counted- but a retreat is always a big help
:06 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Advent is a great season to discern one’s vocation. One way is to meet regularly with a good spiritual director.
Nov 29 2015, 8:06 PM
Guest2998 (guest): A directed or self directed retreat
:07 PM
Lisa C: What exactly is the year of mercy? What is going to happen?
Nov 29 2015, 8:07 PM
Carol Ann: I have done both, and prefer directed
015, 8:08 PM
Judy K: Thinking about the second question: He must truly be first in our lives. No matter how thoughtful we can be, there is a bit of self-centeredness in us. We need to move that self-centeredness to the back burner, as it were, and to put the Lord at the very front of our lives. Our needs come after the designs and purposes of the Lord. He ls Lord, King, Savior, God of Majesty. He must come first in all of our lives, thoughts, words and actions.
Nov 29 2015, 8:08 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I think there are lots of initiatives for the Year of Mercy. Our students will be reaching out to the poor with more service projects.
Nov 29 2015, 8:09 PM
Judy K: He is the Alpha (first) and the Omega (last), the beginning and the end. He deserves first play in our hearts, in our affections, in all the incidences of my life.
Nov 29 2015, 8:10 PM
Judy K: that should be first place
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Mary Roberta Viano: I think, Lisa, it’s just living more conscious of acting with compassion to everyone we meet.
Nov 29 2015, 8:10 PM
SrSusan (guest): http://www.holyyearofmercy.com/
Nov 29 2015, 8:10 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Please pray for 35 new Men signed up for Kairos 57 Retreat at Wende maximum security prison fo December 10,11,12,and 13 !Please invite all your communities to pray for the Men !
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Dawn L: my prayer for the year of Mercy is that all those who feel marginized, not a part of the church, will feel Love and Mercy flow over them
Nov 29 2015, 8:11 PM
Ann: I will keep them in my prayers, Brian.
Nov 29 2015, 8:11 PM
Carol Ann: I will, Brian
Nov 29 2015, 8:11 PM
Dawn L: I will Brian
Nov 29 2015, 8:11 PM
Judy K: YOu bet, Brian!
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Mary Roberta Viano: Will do. Please pray for the prisoners I correspond with at the Buckingham prison in VA, who also are part of Kairos retreats.
Nov 29 2015, 8:11 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Thanks Ann
Nov 29 2015, 8:12 PM
SrSusan (guest): Prayers for all these men
13 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: The Kairos retreats are always life-changing. Our students testify to that when they return from theirs.
Nov 29 2015, 8:13 PM
Lisa C: Thank you for the link, Mother
:14 PM
SrSusan (guest): I will be posting aspects of mercy from the Visitation point of view on occasion during the yearMother
Nov 29 2015, 8:14 PM
SrSusan (guest): I will be posting aspects of mercy from the Visitation point of view on occasion during the year
Nov 29 2015, 8:15 PM
SrSusan (guest): http://visitationspirit.org/2015/11/a-merciful-advent/
A Merciful Advent | Visitation Spirit
Nov 29 2015, 8:16 PM
Lisa C: Maybe we could pray everyone out of purgatory
Nov 29 2015, 8:16 PM
SrSusan (guest): quotes from St Francis de Sales includes mercy
16 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Thank You Sister Susan ! When these Men come to Christ they bring their whole communities on the outside to Christ !
Nov 29 2015, 8:16 PM
Ann: That sounds wonderful, Lisa
Nov 29 2015, 8:16 PM
Judy K: This will be an extraordinary Jubilee Year. Jubilees are generally held every 50 years following a custom from the Old Testament. The Holy Father in his announcement of the Year of Mercy, “Dear Brother and Sisters, I have often thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is a journey that begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call an Extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of
8:17 PM
Judy K: mercy. We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord’s words; ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36′”
Nov 29 2015, 8:17 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I love SFdS encouragement in one of his sermons: “When we abandon all to God, He takes a tender care of us, and His Providence for us is great or small according to the measure of our abandonment.”
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Guest6147 (guest): Beautiful Sister !
Nov 29 2015, 8:19 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So being merciful like Christ was merciful depends on our abandonment to Him and His mercy.
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Carol Ann: We cannot give mercy without having first received it from him.
Mary Roberta Viano: When I realize how insignificant I am, I then realize God’s amazing mercy to me in bringing me to life and allowing me to serve Him – by His grace and with His strength.
Nov 29 2015, 8:21 PM
Carol Ann: Yes
Nov 29 2015, 8:21 PM
Lisa C: Sister, thank you for that quote from St FdS. It seems like an answer to a question of how you can just let go of being tangled in the world and enter a monastery.
Nov 29 2015, 8:22 PM
Judy K: The Lord revealed to St. Faustina that the greatest sinners “have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy.” Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask.”
Nov 29 2015, 8:23 PM
Judy K: We have such a magnanimous God. He says that He will give more than we ask if we appeal to His mercy.
Nov 29 2015, 8:23 PM
Lisa C: Sister, I disagree, you are not insignificant. Jesus loves you so much that He died for you.
Nov 29 2015, 8:23 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: Or, Lisa, it can refer to our “original innocence,” as our celebrant/bishop called it at Mass this morning. Such innocence leads to unquestioning trust in God.
Nov 29 2015, 8:24 PM
Guest6147 (guest): We NEED OUR PRAYER WARRIORS IN THE MONASTERY TO HELP THE TROOPS IN THE FIELD OF BATTLE !!!
Mary Roberta Viano: and SFdS says in another sermon: “If you trust in God, He will take care of you (IPt 5:7) and everything necessary for your perfection.”
Nov 29 2015, 8:25 PM
Carol Ann: It is true, He does
Nov 29 2015, 8:25 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: He continues: “No one who hoped in Him and in His Providence has ever been disappointed (Si 2:11).”Mary Roberta Viano: so we can move forward in battle, knowing He’s with us!
Nov 29 2015, 8:26 PM
Guest6147 (guest): Amen Sister !V
Judy K: Oddly enough, Jesus is recorded as telling Saints like Faustina, holy women like Sister Josefa Menendez that they were miserable. and yet He did not consider them insignificant or He would not have entrusted such important messages to them.
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So now we have to figure out how MERCY and BATTLE fit together!
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Lisa C: Judy He said that to St. Margaret Mary too. I wonder why.
uest): Amen Sister !
Nov 29 2015, 8:27 PM
Judy K: Oddly enough, Jesus is recorded as telling Saints like Faustina, holy women like Sister Josefa Menendez that they were miserable. and yet He did not consider them insignificant or He would not have entrusted such important messages to them.
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: So now we have to figure out how MERCY and BATTLE fit together!
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Lisa C: Judy He said that to St. Margaret Mary too. I wonder why.
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Judy K: I suspect to keep them humble, but I think that they were already humble women.
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Carol Ann: Next to him, we are pretty small!
Nov 29 2015, 8:28 PM
Mary Roberta Viano: I think so that they would lean on Him even harder…and so succeed even better in doing His work.