Your Free St. Óscar Romero Advent Devotional

Hello, and Happy All Souls’ Day! This is one of my favorite feasts of the year, a day when the veil between heaven and earth is thin, a day when we remember that all of us are connected, unhindered by the limitations of time and space. I hope it is a beautiful, meaningful day for you.

On to the big news: your free St. Óscar Romero devotional is ready! There’s a link to download it below, but let me tell you a little bit more about it.

Meeting the Moment and Returning to My Roots

When I started thinking about Advent, way back in the summer, I felt really drawn to offer a space of rest. If there is one hope and prayer I always have for my work, it is this: to meet the moment. Or, as the kids say these days, to read the room, and respond in kind. My sense is that we are weary and stretched thin. I’m very aware of the financial pinch that just seems to keep getting tighter. It’s been a joy and an honor to write devotionals for Brick House in the City, but this year I wanted to offer something that would be accessible to everyone, something that might make it just a little bit easier for you to make the holidays special for your family or perhaps another family or small business relying on that income.

So, I returned to my roots. This is actually the first devotional I ever wrote, way back in 2019, revised and updated for 2022, with beautiful contemplative art by Casey Armour Jordan. I was absolutely thunderstruck when I first encountered St. Óscar Romero’s Advent homilies, and I drank them down like warm spiced wine. I had this wild idea to try to compile excerpts from them with contemplative prayer suggestions, and I typed it out while my toddler was playing in the gym’s childcare room. Now that toddler is almost five, and we’ve come around to these readings and homilies once more; I love the cyclical nature of the liturgy. I hope that this Advent will be a fruitful season of watching, waiting, and praying.

What I’ve Been Up To

—Isn’t it wonderful how Halloween can bring out the best in us as neighbors? In a lovely moment of serendipity, my essay “Who Is My Neighbor?’ for Mothering Spirit was published on Halloween morning. It’s about a powerful experience I had on an ordinary walk with my son, one that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. Children lead us right into mysticism, don’t they?

—Last week I had the joy of speaking, together with Fr. Jim McDermott, better known as @Popculturpriest, at a private event about Russian literature, Ignatian spirituality, and the powerful significance of tv shows (even reality tv!) in our faith lives. It was wonderfully life-giving.

—The entire month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls, and I like returning to this prayer each year.

A Look Ahead

—I will have another Advent offering for you in December that is not quite ready yet. But I will give you a hint. It involves icons! I’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready to announce it.

—I have some shorter writing projects in the works, and the pieces of the book I am writing are locking into place in my head even on days when I’m away from my computer. What a gift.

A Few Things I Love

—Do you know about Roll for Sandwich? It is exactly what it sounds like—a guy rolling the dice to determine the components of his sandwich, and it is a family-friendly delight. My kids laughed so hard when he rolled marshmallow fluff as a sauce for a turkey sandwich!

—Is your brain, too, a jukebox that plays nothing but Taylor Swift songs? I’m a late bloomer in this regard, and I still feel behind on some of her more recent albums, but wow. What a storyteller. I love riding the emotional wave every time she puts out new work, and Midnights is no exception. St. Ignatius teaches us that we find God in all things. And I definitely find God in Taylor Swift songs.

—November is Black Catholic History Month, and I love (all year round!) the work that’s being done by Black Catholic Messenger and Catholics United for Black Lives.

November is also Native American Heritage Month, and I highly recommend following my friend Kirby Hoberg, who is Ponca of Oklahoma. Her recent posts on the racism in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop were powerful and so important for all of us to hear. Illuminative is a great resource, and I love the work of the St. Kateri Conservation Center, too.

Here is the link to download your Advent devotional!

Wishing you all a beautiful month of dwelling in the thin places,

Cameron