We set up in rainy Rome to begin Advent with a call to holy interruption: slow down, prepare your heart, and let God change your pace. From parish pilgrims and basilicas to Mary’s quiet power, we share practical ways to live a countercultural Advent and arrive at Christmas ready.

• being in Rome with parish pilgrims for the Jubilee year
• why Advent should interrupt rushing to Christmas
• keeping the season distinct with patience and prayer
• parish Advent challenge on the Hallow app
• building God’s kingdom over our own attachments
• practical home practices: wreaths, an “Advent bush,” confession
• putting on Christ as armor, not jewelry
• Mary’s silent presence and a Roman conversion story
• expectant hope with Mary and Joseph toward Bethlehem

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We begin Advent in Rome with a call to wakefulness, not fear: cast off the works of darkness, put on Christ, and let Mary lead us into active hope. Isaiah’s peace, Paul’s urgency, and Jesus’ command to stay awake shape a practical path toward confession, conversion, and joy.

• grace of Advent as interruption and awakening
• tension between our small kingdoms and God’s kingdom
• joyful hope for judgment as fulfillment not dread
• Isaiah’s vision of peace as our true destiny
• readiness defined as love, vigilance and joy
• casting off sin, resentment and distraction now
• putting on Christ as identity not ornament
• Mary’s role in preparing hearts for her son
• confession as essential preparation before Christmas
• letting Christ reorder desires and heal wounds
• pilgrimage as conversion toward deeper hope and joy
• returning home with a firmer longing for God’s house

Prepare your hearts for the gaze of God, the loving, healing, searchable gaze of Christ who comes to save you

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We reflect on the Miraculous Medal, the Eucharist, and the roots of Thanksgiving to show why gratitude is a daily choice anchored in God’s faithfulness. From the pilgrims’ losses to Washington’s proclamation, we trace a lineage of thanks that leads us back to the altar.

• meaning of the Miraculous Medal and Mary’s intercession
• Eucharist as the original thanksgiving
• pilgrims’ suffering and the practice of gratitude
• gratitude as a discipline, not an emotion
• abundance flowing from gratitude, not the reverse
• America’s founding and the link between thanks and liberty
• concrete encouragement for grief, worry, and hope
• blessing over families and the nation

Happy thanksgiving to you and to all whom you love, and may God guide, bless, and protect these United States of America

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org