As we move towards the conclusion of the 2025 Jubilee Year, it is with great excitement that the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne offers its Advent resource: Word of God, Word of Hope.
The purpose of the resource is to renew an appreciation for an ancient form of prayer: lectio divina. It is designed to be flexible, so whether you want individual guidance, or to pray with a small group, or with your spouse and family, Word of God, Word of Hope can be adapted to suit those contexts.
For many years, the Church has been encouraging Catholics to rediscover the ancient practice of lectio divina — ‘divine reading’. The origins of this way of praying with the Scriptures are tied closely with the early monastic traditions. The Bible was not simply a fascinating text for our spiritual forebears. It was the Word of God, God’s living Word to his people. To meditate on it, to pray with it, to let those words be always present in one’s mind and heart is to enter into conversation with God. It is to listen to him and let him speak so that we can be formed more deeply as his disciples.
Lectio divina has also been closely tied with the liturgy. In fact, the Church has proposed lectio divina to us as one of the best ways of preparing for the Eucharist.
In his 2010 post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God, Pope Benedict XVI said:
‘Just as the adoration of the Eucharist prepares for, accompanies and follows the liturgy of the Eucharist, so too prayerful reading, personal and communal, prepares for, accompanies and deepens what the Church celebrates when she proclaims the word in a liturgical setting.’
Verbum domini §86
With this desire of the Church in mind, this Advent resource is structured in the manner of a lectio divina, with the intention that those who engage with it — either individually or in groups — will do so in order to prepare for each Sunday of Advent. Everybody leads busy lives, and we all know the challenges of preparing well for the Eucharist. This resource is an encouragement to slow down, to carve out some intentional time before Mass on Sunday to read the relevant Scriptures. By praying with the Word of God, we prepare our hearts to receive more faithfully in the Eucharist, the Word of God made flesh.
With reflections on the jubilee theme of hope, we pray this resource will inspire and build up our communities of faith in the hope that is ‘an anchor of the soul, as sure as it is firm’ (Heb 6:19).
Suggestions for use
For those unfamiliar with the process and structure of lectio divina, each week has a guide at the beginning to take you through the steps. If you are using this individually or as spouses, you can simply follow the steps as they are laid out, reflecting on the Scripture verse before moving onto the provided meditation.
If you are using as part of a small group, whoever is leading can read out the steps before or as you go so that everybody is comfortable and on the same page. This resource is meant to be a prayerful experience, so it is recommended that the meditation for each week be either read aloud by someone in the group or read quietly together. If you are in a small group, you can also use the actio to enter into conversation, inviting everyone to share their experience and prayers, their thoughts and questions about the subject for each week.
More final two weeks of Advent will be uploaded in due course.