This Advent season will be different from all the others we’ve experienced. Those familiar Advent themes of longing for God and waiting in hope take on a special meaning for us in the midst of the storm that surrounds us.

As always, God is perhaps giving us a special opportunity this year to grow deeper in hope and stronger in the embrace of God’s love.

As St. Paul says, we’ve each been given a gift to share with the people of God. And each gift is important to the building up of the body of Christ.

Let us together enter this season and wait in hope for how our God might reveal the length and breath, the height and depth of divine love for us.