2025 Advent Reflection

Advent is a season of waiting and hope, and here at Loras, it is also a time to renew our commitment to love. Love is an important part of our mission as a Catholic community—calling students, faculty, and staff to see Christ in one another and to serve with compassion. As we prepare for the coming of Christ, we are reminded that love is not passive; it is active in our classrooms, offices, fields and courts of competition, and over all campus life.

Each candle we light; hope, peace, joy, and love reflect the truth that God’s love became flesh in Jesus. May this Advent inspire us to live generously, to welcome all, to show Duhawks Supporting Duhawks, and to let love guide every word and action in our campus community.

As we enter the Advent season and reflect on the theme of Joy, I’m reminded how deeply it resonates with the work we are blessed to do here at Loras. There is real joy in witnessing the generosity of those who believe in our mission, and an equally profound joy in being able to serve this institution and community that means so much to all of us. This season invites us to slow down, appreciate the good unfolding around us, and recognize the hopeful anticipation that comes from knowing we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Thank you for your support, spirit, and shared purpose that continue to move Loras forward.

Wishing you and your families a joyful Advent season filled with peace, gratitude, and the warmth of time spent with those who matter most.

God Bless,

I’m an early riser.  Summer or winter, I wake before the sun begins to peak over the horizon.  Within the darkness and quiet of these hours, I can find a sense of calm and peace before the tasks, schedule, and busyness of the day take over.  The Season of Advent calls us to embrace a peace the world cannot give, a peace that broke into the world with the birth of a baby boy in a lowly manger at night.  This deep and true peace is one that we can seek and nurture for ourselves, our relationships, and our communities.  From within our own hearts and radiating out to others, family, friends, strangers, this peace can begin to transform.  May we all seek, find, and nourish that peace in our lives this season.

Snow and cold temperatures have been ever present as we journey through Advent, the season of waiting and anticipation. The shortened days and the chill of the season make the lines from Christina Rossetti’s poem “A Christmas Carol” (1872) all the more poignant: “In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan.” As we hear the wind, feel the cold, and look into a dark sky, we are also reminded that this is a season of hope in that darkness. We hope in the candlelight in church and in our homes, we hope in the promise of a baby born in a manger to bring love and peace to the world. Rossetti later writes of this hope, “In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed/ The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.” Hope is present in the stable, a true light for our coldest days.

Friends, waiting is where God does His best works. When we wait, we learn humility; When we wait, we learn trust; When we wait, we learn what truly matters; And when we wait, we begin to see that we are not in control – God is. Even with the things we wait for that never seem to come (like my Minnesota Vikings never once won a Super Bowl), this reminds me that some hopes are temporary and earthly. But our hope in Jesus Christ never disappoints – Christ DOES Come! He will come again in glory. He comes now – quietly, slowly, gently – in our waiting. So let us embrace this time of Holy Waiting, creating space for transformation.