New Study Circle Guide for Advent – Weekly Message for November 10, 2015

Dear Friends in Christ,

Until recent times in the Church’s history, Advent had been a far more penitential season than it is today, somewhat like Lent. After the Second Vatican Council, emphasis shifted from penance to spiritual preparation as we await the birth of Our Lord. And even though we adopt violet vestments and forego the Gloria at Mass, our liturgical readings call us to anticipate Jesus’ birth, inviting us to share the joy experienced by St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the same joy witnessed by the Shepherds and all who were impacted by God’s humble ‘coming amongst us’.

To help you enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation, we have created a new STUDY CIRCLE GUIDE – The Better Part: Advent Meditations – Year C. This new resource is designed to help you respond in prayer to the blessings of Advent. We also hope you will use it to encourage family and friends to join with you in preparing for Christmas.

The Guide provides several ‘go to’ meditations to accompany the Sundays of Advent for this liturgical Year C. The meditations are compiled from Fr. John Bartunek, LC’s renowned “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer  (available in Kindle and also as an iPhone App).

If you are not yet familiar with The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer  as a wonderful spiritual resource, here is how others have benefitted from its richness:

This book has been a tremendous help to me in my attempt to better hear and understand the guidance being provided by the Holy Spirit through the four Gospels. I have often struggled to understand the message of the Gospels, and this wonderfully-formatted and easy to read book has helped me so much. I have recommended this book often to others. It is a treasure! – MM

I use this book for my morning prayer. I don’t know how the “The Better Part” could be any better. It goes into great detail on how to perform contemplative prayer and moves through all four Gospels. It has so much content that it’s almost hard to believe a book like this could be written. It’s a wonderful way to read a piece of the Gospel, to understand the meaning, and to use that reading to build a closer relationship with God.

If you want to drink your morning coffee, read the Bible, understand what you are reading, help you have a great conversation with God, and give you things to commit yourself to for the day, then this is the book for you.
Absolutely wonderful! – DH

I hope that you can benefit from The Better Part in its various forms, including our new offering of the Study Circle Guide for Advent. Wishing you a very blessed Advent season!

With the assurance of my prayers,
God bless,

Lucy Honner
Director, RCSpirituality
lucy@rcspirituality.org

P.S. Whether you have supported RCSpirituality with a recurring monthly donation of $5 or more, or have made a one-time donation to help us provide resources for spiritual growth, we are so very grateful for your support. We look forward to serving you and hearing from you!