Is unquenchable joy possible? Not entirely, but we can get glimpses of it here on earth by getting off of ourselves and giving thanks to God for the work He is doing in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. God is active in each one of our lives, and oftentimes we miss that. God works through even the hardest experiences in our lives specifically to help us grow, to help us be better people and to help make the world a better place. If we can trust in that (which, yes, is hard to do!) it creates a whole new freedom in us and around us.

We are constantly bombarded with messages of fear, outrage, anxiety, and division. It’s easy to turn away and shrink in on ourselves. But God is calling us to be His light in the world. To do that, start practicing gratitude daily, intentionally, faithfully - opening your heart to God so His light can shine forth even brighter.

The season of Advent is an opportunity for us to train ourselves to be spiritually stronger. Do something every day this Advent to focus on the Lord, even if it's just a minute or two, to help redirect you from the traps in our everyday lives.

Everything we have is a gift from God. The best response we can make to that is to live in a spirit of gratitude: to live our lives with sufficient depth that we ponder the blessings of each day and give thanks to God for those blessings — to not let them bounce off the surface of our thoughts and take them for granted.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about judgement, hell, and purgatory. So many of us hold an unhealthy guilt and fear of what judgement is going to be; that all the sins you've confessed will be held against you at the end. But God's mercy is everlasting and directed at each of us. Holding firm to that; understanding what hell and purgatory are, as defined by our faith, and practicing now the language and values of the Kingdom of God is the key.

We don't have to look far beyond the visible reality in which we live to find God and the hidden truths contained in day-to-day life. What's important is to adopt the practice of thinking about our life and experiences with the conviction that God is present, somehow, in all of it.

As you encounter the little (and the big) things of brokenness in life, remind yourself: This is not heaven. . . but heaven is going to blow my socks off.

So much of what we’re exposed to every day is geared to provoke fear or outrage or insecurity or guilt or inadequacy. The saints and their stories present us a very different picture, because they see life through a different lens. This month, make some time in your life for their stories. Learn to see through their eyes. Invite them to be part of your own walk. To get you started, click here for one of Deacon Brett's favorite saint stories.

How many of us can really see, spiritually speaking? In one sense, we're all blind beggars like Bartimaeus; we're blind to the light of faith. Like Bartimaeus, we need to ask the Lord for the gift of faith - not just for ourselves and our families, but for the world and all who walk in the darkness of not knowing who Jesus is.

We are not powerless when it comes to anxiety. Jesus is with us when we call on Him, and He gives us timely help to help us live fully and not get sucked in to that black hole of anxiety, fear, and depression.