Dear Friends,

There is a difference between a tourist and a pilgrim.

A tourist moves through the world seeking comfort, control, and the perfect photo. The itinerary is full, the schedule is tight, and the goal is to return home with stories, but without much change.

A pilgrim walks differently.

A few years ago, I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain – a journey of more than five hundred miles through cities and silence, mountains and rain. What struck me most was this: the pilgrimage was not about arriving in Santiago. It was about learning to walk with open hands. To let go of what weighed me down. To trust the arrow on the road, even when I could not see around the next bend. It became a school of patience, grace, and hope.

Advent is a pilgrimage as well. It is not a season of rushing and consuming but of waiting and preparing. The Church invites us each year to be pilgrims of hope, to move through these Advent weeks not as tourists chasing holiday cheer, but as people seeking transformation.

We are walking toward someone. The birth of Christ is not only an event to remember. It is a mystery to enter.

Like Mary on her journey to Bethlehem, like the prophets longing for the Messiah, like John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, we walk with expectation and faith, even when we cannot see what comes next.

Hope is at the heart of Advent. Hope does not ignore the darkness. It dares to light a candle within it. It waits. It watches. It trusts that what is promised will come, even when the night feels long.

This pilgrimage is not something we do alone. Christ walks with you. The Church, on earth and in heaven, walks with you.

And I am grateful for you. Thank you for every step you take with us.

Your generosity, your prayers, and your partnership make it possible to welcome, accompany, and serve so many. Your support does more than sustain a mission. It becomes part of someone’s journey toward Christ.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.