A FREE Advent resource from NDCYS

Advent has come along very fast this year, as it often seems to. The challenge to enter into this
season with intention and purpose has been given but blink and it can pass us by in a blur of hustle
and bustle.
This weekend 25 young people aged 14-18 attended an open retreat at the Briars to mark the start
of Advent together. The weekend gave them an opportunity to press pause and enter into the mystery and wonder of the Advent season and to explore the Advent scripture readings with expectant hope.
As you can imagine a lot of prayer, thought and preparation goes into each retreat and the accompanying resources. One of the goals of each retreat we offer at the Briars is that we will give the young people something to sustain and support their spiritual growth and relationship with Jesus beyond the retreat itself. The Advent retreat is no different. This year we have crafted a beautiful journal that the young people will use whilst on retreat and for each subsequent week of
Advent. The young people have been taught and led in the ancient practice of lectio divina, which literally means holy reading, as a part of their retreat experience. Through the journal they will be given the resources to continue this practice throughout Advent.

We are offering this resource as a gift to the young (and not so young) this Advent season. We hope that the readings, reflections and simple explanation of lectio divina will enrich your inner life and enkindle expectant hope as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not just as an exercise in remembrance but in the reality of our hearts and lives or as Venerable Fulton Sheen puts it:
“There are two births of Christ, one unto the world in Bethlehem; the other in the soul, when it is spiritually reborn. Men think of the former much more than the later, and celebrate it every year; but the spiritual Bethlehem is equally momentous … It was the second birth that Saint Paul insisted on when he wrote from prison to his beloved people, the Ephesians, asking that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith and that they be rooted and grounded in love. This is the second Bethlehem, or the personal relationship of the individual heart to the Lord Christ.”

We encourage you to download the resource and journey with us as we await the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.