Introduction - One Step Closer

There are certain things, I feel safe assuming about you, the reader.

First, I would bet you are busy. Whether it is work, school, hobbies, a list of new books to read or movies to see, friends, family, and (hopefully) Church community, you have a multitude of things filling your daily schedule.

Two, no matter if you never quite remember to say grace before meals or a short prayer before bed or you spend hours in adoration and catch Mass daily at 6 am, you could take one step further in your relationship with God.

That is what we are focusing on this month - challenging you to take one step closer to God. This isn’t intended to be a major theological construct or a long list of things to do to make you more holy. Rather, this is our simple offering of a reflection, some media, or other bite-sized daily content that you can spend five minutes with, and therefore spend five minutes more with God.

Each week will have a different theme between now and the First Sunday of Advent. There will be a pattern for each weekday highlighting things like scripture, art, music, and of course the highest form of communication - memes.

We invite you to join us for this first week as we focus on encounter.

Encounter isn’t a word we use in casual conversation. It may creep its way into more dramatic stories we recount over dinner to our friends. The word has more weight, more drama, than to simply say, I met someone. There is a sense of intimacy, of surprise to the word.

It is appropriate to apply the word to our God. We have a God who we can encounter daily. Our God is one who seeks that intimate relationship with us. Our God is a God of surprises.

This week we challenge you to encounter God in your life.

• Take a minute at the start of the day to ask God to open your mind, heart, ears, and eyes to God’s presence?
• Take a minute midday to offer a prayer that you might be the presence of God for someone you will encounter this afternoon.
• Take a minute to offer a prayer for a priest, lay minister, or volunteer you have encountered at Church.
• Take a minute over your dinner to encounter God’s presence in the individual you are sharing the meal with, the hands that prepared the food, and the hands that grew the food.
• Take a minute at the end of the day to ask yourself where you were surprised by God?

Jennifer Delvaux

Director of Faith Formation