Word of the Year: An Advent Retreat

The turn of a new year is a threshold, a doorway into new possibilities. Writer John O’Donohue calls a threshold a frontier between different rhythms and atmospheres. We meet it by pausing, looking honestly at where we’ve been, and stepping forward into new territory. Across cultures, people mark this turning point with ritual — meals, countdowns, resolutions — practices that ground us and sometimes even transform us. One such practice is to choose a word to guide, inspire, or challenge us for the new year ahead.

Word of the Year: An Advent Retreat invites you to slow down, pray, and listen for the word God may be placing on your heart for the coming year. Inspired by the “Word of the Year” practice from the Abiding Together podcast, we’ll draw on the four themes of Advent — Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love — reflecting on each to discover which one, or another word, God may be calling you to carry forward. This retreat is its own small ritual of transition: choosing your word and making something tangible to hold it, a keepsake you will create, to return to all year.

As the Catholic Church begins its new year with Advent, we’re invited into a season of waiting and listening. What is God trying to tell you? Where is He guiding you into the year ahead?

Register online or contact José at 310-377-4867 ext. 250, jsalas@maryjoseph.org

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