Isaiah

Advent and Christmas are supposed to be joyful seasons, because the thought of a new beginning can fill us with hope. We all need fresh starts in life, because we all make mistakes. Our sins and selfishness does damage to ourselves and to those around us. Christ comes with his saving grace to redeem those failures and fill us with new life. That was the situation of God’s Chosen People during the time of the prophet Isaiah, whose prophecies are read every year throughout Advent and during all the Christmas Masses. He was sent by God to strengthen their hope and nourish their joy. In this Advent Retreat Guide, Do I Need a Savior?, we will let him do the same thing for us.

• The First Meditation will look at Isaiah’s core message and its relation to the historical situation in which he preached.
• The Second Meditation will spend time savoring some of his favorite images and symbols, so that his message penetrates our hearts.
• And in the Conference we will review a frequently forgotten dimension of our own Christian vocation—that each one of us is called and equipped to be a prophet.