Introduction

Welcome to this year’s Advent Retreat.

This new liturgical year is also the opening of a Jubilee Year within the church, to which everyone is invited. The year’s title is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Jubilee is a biblical concept of a time of rest, renewal and liberation. According to the book of Leviticus, chapter 25, slaves and prisoners were to be set free during a jubilee year, debts were to be forgiven, and the land replenished by being given a rest from cultivation.

Jubilee emphasises God’s faithfulness, justice and compassion. God is the loving sustainer of all creation. We look towards the coming of Christ as the ultimate jubilee, who comes to restore, renew and liberate. We remember that we walk on this earth not as overlords, but as pilgrims, seeking to live in right relationship with all of creation.

Advent is above all a time of hope. Isaiah chapter 9 speaks of the people who walk in darkness seeing a great light. The last five years have seen times of deep darkness over our world with a global pandemic and the outbreak or continuance of devastating conflicts. You may also have been through times of personal darkness through bereavement, illness or losses of different kinds.

As pilgrims of hope our Advent journey, this year invites us to travel in confidence, looking to the birth of Jesus as the source of all hope for our world.

How might a renewal of your relationship with God bring restoration or liberation in your life?

This retreat is being prayed by many people around the world. As you join this pilgrimage of Advent hope, pray for and with them that, in the coming of Jesus, we may all experience God’s compassion and faithful love.

O Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples; come to set us free and delay no more. Alleluia.