The First Week of Advent

Walk With One: Identify

With the start of Advent, we have entered into a new liturgical year. Once again, we set out in the hope of our Savior's coming—both his first coming, when he redeemed the world, and his second coming, when he will make all things new.

This Good News is too good to keep to ourselves! It calls us to the work of evangelization. In fact, we get this word from the New Testament Greek word euangelion, which means good news. Preparing for and receiving the Good News during Advent and Christmas Time should move us to share it with others.

With that in mind, Advent is the perfect time to take up the National Eucharistic Revival's theme for 2024-2025: Walk With One. Here's how the revival website describes this initiative:
"We are all called to evangelize, and thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are well-equipped for this mission. It may not mean spreading the Gospel in a foreign land or going door-to-door with the Good News—and it may require overcoming some fears—but the Lord is asking each of us to step out of our comfort zone and evangelize one-on-one."

"There is someone in your life right now whom Jesus longs to call to himself. He wants to spark a relationship with them and bless them with his sacraments... [Walk With One] is your opportunity to be God’s instrument in the life of another person. Imagine how our families, neighborhoods, and country will be transformed if every active Catholic answers this call!"
As we prepare our hearts to receive the Good News of Christ's coming this Advent, let's also do our part to prepare others' hearts as well. How do we begin? The revival has given us the four Stages of Spiritual Companionship to guide our evangelical efforts. In the first week of Advent, we'll focus on Stage 1: Identify.

1. Identify Someone in a Spirit of Humility

"Don’t just pick someone. Ask God whom he wants you to accompany on their journey home to the Church. He will point you to the person he has in mind and open doors for the conversations that need to happen."
  • Write down a list of people you know and pray over the list.
  • Visit our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration and ask him to show you whom to reach out to.
  • Pray to the Holy Spirit asking for increased discernment and guidance.
Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.

This collect prayer begins the Mass for Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Jesus is calling us to "take up battle against spiritual evils." We'll explore fasting itself in a few weeks; during the week of Ash Wednesday, we're going to dig into an important set of weapons the Lord gives us to fight evil: sacramentals.

What's a sacramental? Well, if you attend Mass on Ash Wednesday, you're probably going to receive one on your forehead.

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