Advent, the season of waiting, expectation, and hope is upon us. This Advent the WPC office offers you Two Prayer Experiences.

The Scriptures often ask us to be alert and watchful so that we may discover all the ways that Emmanuel, God-with-us, is present in our ordinary lives.

However, in these days of the pandemic, watching and waiting have taken on new meanings. We find ourselves hoping for a vaccine, expecting that once we have it everything will return to normal. Yet, there is so much uncertainty in our world, and so many changes, that our normal will look much different. People are already saying there will be a “new normal” but no one really knows what that will be!

Providence people, though, know that our God is providing us with time this Advent season to plumb the depths of our inner selves, to allow God to speak to our hearts, to experience the transformation that Love alone can bring. We know Providence as that name of God that speaks of fullness of life and a future filled with hope.

Our Two Prayer Experiences calling on the wisdom of spiritual writers, reflections of our own Providence Sisters and Associates, and the beautiful translation of psalms by Nan Merrill. In the spirit of the 40th anniversary of the Women of Providence in Collaboration I pray that your Advent will be filled with peace, justice, compassion, and radical hope for our future together. May each of us, like Mary, be that vessel, that disciple that “gestates faith, God’s promise, into real flesh!”

Happy Advent!

Sister Barbara