Orethapedia

Advent is a hot item now. Stores and brands are offering  all types of Advent calendars. For most of us Advent is time of spiritual preparation for the birth of Jesus.For many Christians unfamiliar with the liturgical year, there may be some confusion surrounding the meaning of the Advent season.

Today, the season of Advent lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6. Advent begins on Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd each year.

This year to help settle and get you to think about the season and our faith I have a real active Advent read.

Pope Francis here presents his hopes and aspirations for the Church in the future. Over the course of 16 conversations with Father Antonio Spadaro from 2013 to 2017, Pope Francis engages in a valuable dialogue. His impact on the modern world is extraordinary. He has turned the Catholic Church upside-down, flung open the windows of the Vatican and purged the Augean stables of simony, nepotism and financial skulduggery. But above all he is engaged with the poor, the starving and the marginalized.

He does not sit down in a room in the Vatican and write learned books. He is in constant dialogue with the outside world and with the universal Catholic Church. He likes being asked questions and finds it easy to respond. In this new book are some of his most valuable engagements in dialogue form with people of all sorts and kinds. Several of the interviews in this volume were originally meant to remain as private conversations. Father Spadaro recorded these free, spontaneous conversations for his own use, but upon listening again, he was struck by “a vision of church and a vision of the world” and worked with Pope Francis to make “rich vision” available to a wider audience.

Open to God: Open to the World offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind and workings of this entirely different Pope. As we see in these conversations the Franciscan revolution is under way and, in spite of Francis’s critics, the revolution will roll on and new horizons will be opened for the one and a half billion Catholics in the world today. Including a preface by Pope Francis himself, as well as thoughts on his recent trips to Colombia, Myanmar, Chile, and Peru, Open to God: Open to the World reveals a leader’s vision for progress.

The book is endearing and inspiring. There are many illustrative examples, delivering on the promise of it being a practical document. Pope Francis has  restores a true picture of the holiness and honest reflection.Cultural change always begin small. I think spending time with this book will give you the necessary injection of encouragement to dove deeper into your faith. Advent is the perfect season to dive deeper. At just under 200 pages, this book is not so thick as to intimidate. As soon as one begins reflecting upon what he or she has reads you are transported to a depp read.

The scope of the discussion is not so weighty that you will get lost. This will encourage you to digest in bits though.

You should want to sit and contemplate the miracle of  our faith during Advent and this is the perfect read.

The new book is available on all platforms.