WASHINGTON, DC — Advent, the four-week liturgical season before Christmas, is a time of waiting, conversion, and hopeful preparation as Catholics journey together toward celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This year, Advent began on Nov. 28, and for the first time ever, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), held a Virtual Advent Retreat for those leading the journey on U.S. Military installations worldwide. On Dec. 1, more than 50 U.S. military-affiliated catechists, coordinators of religious education (CREs), Catholic pastoral life coordinators, priests, and others based throughout the United States and in countries from Europe and the Middle East to Asia came together on Zoom for the 90-minute retreat focused on prayer and reflection in preparation for the Lord’s coming. The same retreat was conducted twice in one day—at 6:00 a.m. ET and again at 2:00 p.m. ET—giving participants in all time zones a convenient option.
His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, exhorted the faith leaders to be vigilant. “’Vigilance,’” quoting Pope Francis, Archbishop Broglio noted, “’means not to allow our hearts to become lazy, or our spiritual life to soften into mediocrity. Be careful, because we might become sleeping Christians. And we know there are many Christians who are asleep. Who are anesthetized by spiritual worldliness. Christians without spiritual fervor, without intensity in prayer, without enthusiasm for mission, without passion for the Gospel. Christians who always look inward, incapable of looking to the horizon…. Indifferent to everything except what is comfortable for us. This is a sad life….’ Together we can live this special time of the liturgical year where each one of us takes advantage of the opportunity to help out, grows in a deeper relationship with the Lord, and reaches out to help our neighbors experience divine love, a fire in our hearts, manifested in the ordinary moments of every day.”
AMS Chancellor Father Robert Cannon, J.C.L., gave a talk on how to preach and live the Gospel. He said effective preaching is subtle, delicate, and often calls for reminding people they are loved by Christ. Father Cannon shared a touching personal story about visiting a Florida nursing home to see a friend named Carolyn, who, after greeting him, said, “‘Father Bob, Jesus really loves you.’ When she did that, I started sobbing. I had tears, it was uncontrollable sobbing. It was like, embarrassing. One of the nurses or attendants comes in, and here’s this little lady smiling and everything else, and the nurse says, ‘is everything okay,’ and Carolyn goes, ‘Oh, he’s fine, he’s fine.’ The reason I shared that little story is because she made love real. The love of Jesus was real to her and she communicated that with a simple little phrase that burned in my heart, ‘Father Bob, Jesus really loves you.’ I never forgot that.”
Between talks by Father Cannon and Archbishop Broglio, the faith leaders broke into small discussion groups to explore topics including: (1) What does “preach the good news” mean to you? (2) What is the difference between preaching and teaching the Good News? (3) What additional tools do you need to preach the Good News? Retreat facilitator Casey Lee, AMS Associate Director for Young Adult Ministry, remarked, “In this time of Advent, there is an opportunity to live a joyful life in anticipation of Christ’s coming, and by one’s example a person can sincerely ‘preach the Good News.’ This was the theme of the AMS Virtual Advent Retreat, which afforded an opportunity to bring together both lay leaders serving in evangelization and catechesis and clergy from across this global Archdiocese to pray, reflect and share faith in preparation for the birth of Jesus and his second coming.” Before the retreat was over, Ms. Lee asked each participant to reflect on a time when he or she felt gifted with the Good News, and to describe the experience and how it made them feel. The faith leaders hope to draw on their reflections for inspiration as they encourage fellow military Catholics to be more vigilant and better witnesses to Christ in the season of preparation.
