“The journey is never finished....There is always a need to restart, to rise again, to recover a sense of the goal of one’s own existence.” (Pope Francis) Advent is that new journey that we are called to begin each year. But that journey has a purpose and a goal. We are called to recognize that the Messiah and Savior has come and will come again during our journey. Our purpose is to meet him anew and in a fresh new way, so that we can arrive at the destiny he has willed for us: eternal life with him. In this journey we cannot live in the past but learn from the past. At the same time, we cannot live in the future but prepare for that future. Our journey with the Lord is in the present moment. It is here that we meet him in his revealed word, in his mysterious presence in the  Eucharist as well as in each other. How we respond to him in these encounters will determine how we will receive him in our hearts now and eternally. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!