Last Sunday, December 7, over 100 families took part in our Family Faith Formation Advent Retreat for families of students in Grades K-5! Focused on the theme of “Waiting in Hope,” the retreat invited families to take a moment to reflect more deeply on the Advent season and Christ’s coming into our lives.
Beginning right after the 9AM Family Mass, families gathered in St. John Church for an opening prayer that called everyone to open their hearts and minds to the hope, peace, joy, and love that Advent invite us to. Families were then given the opportunity to take part in four different stations throughout the building.
In Powers Hall, Faith Formation staff and volunteers provided creative crafts that gave kids a chance to create advent wreaths of all sorts and to explore the characters in the manger scene. In the St. John Chapel, students and parents alike joined Sister Colleen to reflect more deeply on how we can prepare ourselves for Christmas (including sending them home with a “reverse” Advent calendar) and how the four weeks of Advent can be a journey of faith for the whole family. And in the main church, Kelly Meraw taught families to sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” while exploring the themes of hopeful waiting and praying through song.
To end the retreat, everyone returned to the main church, where they joined in singing the first verse of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and then were sent forth in a prayer that called each family to be beacons of hope this Advent and to ready their hearts for Christ by sharing God’s love with the world!