Published daily during Advent. Sign up to receive via email
(or manage your existing subscription) at dioceseofnewark.org/meditations.

Email not displaying correctly? View as a webpage.
Advent meditation for December 18, 2020

I have always enjoyed walking outside and I am sure that this year walking in my neighborhood has been a mental health saver in this pandemic.

Every day I walk four miles around the same local streets. It calms me, gives me exercise and I am constantly struck by the beauty of the earth and by the fact that the sky seems clearer and the air seems cleaner. I am thankful that Mother Nature is still busy at work and winter gave way to a beautiful spring and a glorious summer and fall.

I also give thanks that many people are working from home.
Initially, my neighbors and I just nodded from afar, now we wave, say hi and sometimes we even share a few socially distanced, mask-muffled words.
The local children have been busily creative building little scenes under shrubs, tree houses in holes in the trees, and miniature villages in the garden. They are exquisite and they make me smile, give me hope and for that I am profoundly grateful every day.

God has this, and I am so grateful that after this time I will know all my neighbors so much
better.