Dear Friends of St. Anne's Shrine,

Each year as the days grow shorter, we enter the liturgical season of Advent. Beginning on Sunday December 1st, we light the first of four candles marking time as we prepare for the feast of Christmas. Advent is often overlooked as our society rushes to the holiday season but it is important to give Advent the prayerful time and reflection it deserves.

Preparing to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, God becoming one like us in all things but sin, is a special time for our spiritual lives. We are once again invited to enter mystery and ponder the works of God. As I think of this journey of Advent, I cannot help but think of the moment it began for us. The Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary as told in Luke’s Gospel, expresses the beginning of this mystery of the Incarnation.

During my sabbatical in Rome these past three months, I noticed that various artists expressed the Annunciation in paintings and in frescoes painted on walls and ceilings of historic churches and monasteries. Each artistic expression emphasized something different about the interplay between Gabriel and Mary. Whether it was facial expressions, hand gestures, the position of the figures, the background or setting of the scene, each image uniquely expressed the mysterious encounter of Gabriel with Mary, the one called to be the mother of Jesus. Likewise, several churches and monasteries had a painting or a fresco of the Nativity scene. All of these artistic images were created at a time when Christians could not read and art was a way to capture the imagination of the faithful and convey the mysteries of faith.

Our ministry at St. Anne’s Shrine also tries to express the mysteries of our faith. We do this through the celebration of the Sacraments and in various retreat experiences. Friends like you help us fulfill this ministry because you make the Shrine possible. There are many ways to help the Shrine financially especially at the end of the calendar year. Our Planned Giving page suggests ways you can donate funds through IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, gifts of stock, bequests in your Will, a Living Trust, or as a beneficiary on your IRA, etc.

You can also assist the Shrine in response to this appeal by making a generous Christmas donation. The Dion Family Foundation has pledged a $50,000 matching gift initiative. Each dollar you contribute for the programming and upkeep of St. Anne’s Shrine will be matched, up to a combined total of $100,000. Your donation will go twice as far. Please also remember to submit your intentions so that we Edmundites can remember them in our prayers.

Thank you for considering a special gift this time of year. May God bless you and keep you and all your loved ones in good health. Have a holy Advent and a blessed Christmas!

Sincerely,