Advent begins today! Lord, during this Advent season, increase your peace in our hearts and allow your promise of rest and refreshment to lighten the labors and burdens in our busy lives. Teach us how to practice silence, solitude and simple living, and how to slow our pace, so we can hear the silence of Christmas around us. Let us empty our hearts of material wants to make room for the real meaning of the birth of the Christ Child. And when we are weary and anxious, may we always find rest in you. Amen