Free St. Óscar Romero Advent Devotional

When I started thinking about Advent, way back in the summer, I felt really drawn to offer a space of rest. If there is one hope and prayer I always have for my work, it is this: to meet the moment. Or, as the kids say these days, to read the room, and respond in kind. My sense is that we are weary and stretched thin. I’m very aware of the financial pinch that just seems to keep getting tighter. It’s been a joy and an honor to write devotionals for Brick House in the City, but this year I wanted to offer something that would be accessible to everyone, something that might make it just a little bit easier for you to make the holidays special for your family or perhaps another family or small business relying on that income.

So, I returned to my roots. This is actually the first devotional I ever wrote, way back in 2019, revised and updated for 2022, with beautiful contemplative art by Casey Armour Jordan. I was absolutely thunderstruck when I first encountered St. Óscar Romero’s Advent homilies, and I drank them down like warm spiced wine. I had this wild idea to try to compile excerpts from them with contemplative prayer suggestions, and I typed it out while my toddler was playing in the gym’s childcare room. Now that toddler is almost five, and we’ve come around to these readings and homilies once more; I love the cyclical nature of the liturgy. I hope that this Advent will be a fruitful season of watching, waiting, and praying.

The devotional includes excerpts from Romero’s homilies on the four Sundays of Advent and the Feast of Christmas. The readings he preached on in 1977 are the same ones we will hear this year, 2022. Come and rest in the wisdom of this great saint. Let his beautiful words become the bridge between the past and the present, reminding us that the Kingdom of God is unfolding all around us, in every time, in every place.

There is a link at the bottom of this post on my Substack to download your free devotional!