This weekend begins the season of Advent, which marks the start of a new liturgical / Church year. The Advent wreath helps us mark the four weeks preceding the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus at Christmas when we marvel at how God became a human being! There is a dual nature to the spiritual preparation we undertake in this season.

What or who do you take for granted? I know, it’s hard to think about something you don’t think much about! But try… especially at this time of Thanksgiving. There are certainly people and things you and I depend upon that we just expect to be there for us. Maybe it’s the person who delivers the newspaper or those who provide emergency services. Mindfulness is important in the process of being thankful.

Recently, I received these suggestions of Random Acts of Kindness to Spread Hope & Make Someone Smile from an Executive Coach from Floyd Associates, a company founded by Matthew Kelly. I thought I’d share them with you. When done intentionally in the name of Jesus, these “acts of kindness” will help you to be a true disciple of Jesus whose Spirit will work powerfully in you and through you! It’s not merely humanitarianism, but intentional, Spirit-led discipleship, which will “accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by power at work within us .” (Ephesians 3:20)

As you may know, our parish is in Phase 7 of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pastoral Planning Process called Disciples in Mission. With a hiatus necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, our parish has recently begun working on the development of a local – parish pastoral plan to be submitted eventually to Cardinal Sean for his approval.