As darkness lengthens in late fall, we begin to see the signs of the season — advertisements with giant red bows atop new cars, Christmas music blasting everywhere, the heightened pace of holiday hustle and bustle, lights and garlands speckling every corner of the city.

But inside many church buildings, this time of year looks different. There, we find a countercultural sparseness. The altar is covered in purple, the color of both royalty and repentance. There’s a slowing down, a silent stillness. The music turns to minor keys and becomes contemplative, even mournful. The Scripture readings are apocalyptic and trippy, strikingly short on sweet tales of babies, little lambs and Christmas stars. In this small space, Christmas season has not yet begun. The church waits in Advent. READ MORE

Editor's Note: The following is a reprint of an Advent reflection shared by Stephen Spahn, S.J. in the e-zine on December 1, 2015 when he was on staff here at St. Ignatius. Very touching and still very pertinent to the days in which we live.

Delp was a German Jesuit priest who was imprisoned in Berlin during WWII. Known for being a gripping, dynamic preacher, he was also an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, and an important figure in the Resistance movement against Nazism. Accused of conspiring against the Nazi government, he was arrested in 1944, tortured, imprisoned, and executed on Feb 2, 1945. (Learn about Fr. Delp by clicking here) While in prison, Fr. Delp was able to write a few Advent meditations, including the one I share with you today. These meditations were smuggled out of the prison in Berlin and read by his friends and fellow parishioners knowing what fate lay ahead for him. In the world in which we currently find ourselves, there was something about his reflections of the world in which he lived that I thought pertinent this Advent season. Enjoy!

Once again, let us kneel down and pray for keen eyes capable of seeing God's messengers of annunciation, for vigilant hearts wise enough to perceive the words of the promise. The world is more than its burden, and life is more than the sum of its gray days. The golden threads of the genuine reality are already shining through everywhere. Let us know this, and let us, ourselves be comforting messengers. Hope grows through the one who is himself a person of hope and the promise.

Advent is the time of the promise, not yet the fulfillment. We are still standing in the middle of the whole thing in the logical relentlessness and inevitability of destiny...

The sounds of devastation and destruction, the cries of self-importance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and powerlessness still fill the world. Yet, standing silently, all along the horizon are eternal realities with their age-old longing. The first gentle light of the glorious abundance to come is already shining above them...This is today. And tomorrow the angels will relate loudly and jubilantly what has happened, and we will know it and will be blessed if we have believed and trusted in Advent.

Kevin joined the St. Ignatius community as a lapsed Catholic in 2018 - the direct result of smugly promising his girlfriend he would return to Mass if she found a Jesuit parish (as he erroneously believed Jesuits were relegated to only serving in educational institutions). While he continues to reflect upon questions regarding the Catholic Church writ large, because of the warmth and love he's continuously felt from Father Jim and the entire St. Ignatius community, he is honored to be appointed to the Council and excited to participate in its mission. Kevin and his now wife Kendall - who, to be clear, he no longer tries to outwit - live in Severna Park.

After a relatively uneventful virtual semiannual meeting, the president of the U.S. bishops' conference surprised some of his fellow bishops in the final minutes of their assembly last week with a cliffhanger: Catholic President-elect Joe Biden's stance on abortion causes confusion, said Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, as he announced the formation of a working group to examine what this would mean for the bishops' conference. READ MORE

ROME — Pope Francis has strongly defended his record on naming women to positions of authority at the Vatican, saying in a new book that women do not need to be priests to serve as leaders in the global Catholic Church. READ MORE