We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’

Advent is very much about a fresh discovery of God’s presence and grace in our lives, in our own moment of history.

On Sunday 3 November, the first Sunday of Advent, 19 young Carmelites renewed their vows in St Elias community, Hera, Timor-Leste.

Repentance and forgiveness console God’s people and prepare the way for the Lord to enter our hearts.

You can download and save the scripture texts, reflections and prayers for Lectio Divina for each day of this month. Lectio Divina is a traditional way of praying the Scriptures. Visit our Lectio Divina page for more information about how to pray using Lectio Divina. Join our Lectio Online group. We meet every Friday at 10am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) [You are welcome to join from other time zones, eg. Perth/Singapore/Philippines: 7am; Timor-Leste/Tokyo: 8am; New Zealand: 12pm; Los Angeles: Thursday 4pm; New York/Toronto: Thursday 7pm] to prayerfully reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday.

Parishioner of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish, Coorparoo, Paul Jensen, was ordained a permanent deacon on 25 November.

Our Advent journey begins today. Advent’s invitation is to become aware of the all-pervading presence of the risen Jesus as Emmanuel – God among us.

Fr Bruce Clark (Prior Provincial) was the celebrant at the end of year Eucharist for Yarra Theological Union.

Only Matthew tells us this story of final judgement in the Kingdom of God.

Continuing the theme of last week’s parable about the wise and the foolish women, this parable also concentrates on wisdom.