Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #343
Inspiration for the week of December 1, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
Welcome to Advent!
We are now into a beautiful season of…
Wait for it.
Waiting.
A season of waiting as we prepare for the greatest gift that has ever been given.
And it is through waiting that we become ready to receive the wondrous gifts of hope, peace, love and joy.
Although it might seem like waiting takes no thought or practice (since we do it so much), but the opposite is actually true.
Because fruitful waiting actually takes a LOT of thought and practice.
So, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet will seek to help us become better at waiting so this Advent season becomes very fruitful as we continue on our journey towards holiness…
Food for the Head
"Advent is a time of renewal and purification, leading us to greater holiness.” — St. Francis de Sales
Saint Francis de Sales gives us our first two clues for how we can make our Advent waiting fruitful.
We use the time of waiting for renewal and purification.
We wait by renewing our spiritual commitments (whatever they may be) by seeking to purify our minds and hearts to grow in holiness.
To do these things we must be intentional and practice—a LOT.
But if we keep renewal and purification at the forefront of our efforts this Advent, then we will find that our waiting will be frutiful, and we will be prepared for Christmas.
This week, resolve to renew whatever spiritual commitments you have that will help you purify you mind and heart during this Advent season.
Food for the Heart
"The coming of the Lord is near. Let us await him with faithful hearts, purified minds and joyful spirits.” — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton tells us what we tend to forget as disciples in the twenty-first century.
The coming of the Lord is near.
Since we are twenty centuries removed from the time in history when God entered the world, so the tendency is we think the Lord’s coming again is still a ways off and we act accordingly.
What do I mean by that?
Well, if you are anything like me, you might get a little lackadaisical about actually getting ready.
You are unfaithful to your prayer life—despite best intentions.
You put off going to confession—because there is always tomorrow.
You fail to be joyful—because how can we be joyful in a world with so much pain and suffering?
The end result is that we are not waiting with faithful hearts, purified minds or joyful spirits at the end of Advent.
And that means we missed out on our chance for our waiting to be truly fruitful.
So, this year, don’t put anything off—because the coming of the Lord is near.
This week, resolve to not put off anything that will help your Advent waiting to be fruitful.
Food for the Hands
"Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation, but also an occasion for the renewal of relationships.” — St. John Paul II
Saint Pope John Paul II reminds us that Advent is a time of waiting.
But it is also a time of joy.
How can we be joyful in a world that has so much discouragement, division, and decit?
Because the Lord’s coming is a gift of grace and salvation—and an occasion for the renewal of relationships.
The Advent season is a perfect time to reach out to others and let them know you care so that you feel encouraged and supported. In particular, make sure to reach out to those who have lost someone in the last year and are going through their first holiday alone.
Or choose to reach out to somone from whom you have been estranged and offer forgiveness (or an apology) so as to reconcile and bring a little more peace into the world.
Or be honest with those in your lives about how MUCH you really care for them so they will not believe the lie the world tells them—that they are alone and need to take car of themselves.
In these small ways, we can bring be the face, voice and hands of joy to others.
This week, resolve to be a source of joy to others this week.
Food for the Feet
"May we prepare our hearts and homes for the coming of the Savior with love and humility.” — St. Benedict
Saint Benedict tells us that we need to prepare our hearts and homes for our Savior with love and humility.
If you are wondering how you might go about doing that, just look to the model of Mary.
Mary didn’t have much to offer Jesus, but she had a heart full of love, and humbly offered it.
This is what most pleases the Lord.
If you ever saw the old animated cartoon, The Little Drummar Boy, you see this brought to life on the screen as the little drummer boy expresses his gratitude for being in the presence of the King of Kings by playing his drum the best he is able.
We must seek to do the same this Advent season during this time of waiting.
To offer whatever it is that we have, and to offer it the best we are able.
If you are still trying to figure out what that might be, just ask Mary, and she’ll help you.
This week, resolve to offer your best to the Lord as you await His coming.
Exhortation
"Let us live in joy and love during this holy time, awaiting the birth of our Savior with hope and faith.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was most definitely a fan of Advent.
He tells us how we need to live during this holy time as we await the birth of our Savior.
We live in joy and love with hope and faith.
As we do, we can practice our waiting with intentionality.
We do this by renewing our spiritual commitments that purify our minds and hearts.
We avoid putting off any efforts we need to make for renewal or purification.
We resolve to be a source of joy for others and overcome the discouragement, division and deceit in the world.
And we turn to Mary to help us in offering our best during this period of waiting.
This is how we wait.
And continue to wait until our King makes Himself known to us.
Continue to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make this time of wiating a frutiful one, so that together we can tell the Master of Death, "NOT TODAY!"
All the best,
Christina
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
Guest appearances on the Religion to Reality podcast:
Catholic Podcasting with Paul Fahey, Christina Semmens, and Jose Manuel de Urquidi
Living the Works of Mercy: Bridging Faith and Action
(My comments can be found around the 24 minute mark.)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog in 2025:
Do Not Be Terrified (Nov 16)
Gaining Wisdom of Heart (Sept 9)
The Passion of the Passion (Apr 13)
Bearing Fruit in a Pruning Season (March 23)
Putting Out Into the Deep (Feb 9)
Article on Catholic365.com Platform:
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #254—”Created to Create—1:1 with Racquel Rose, Founder of The Little Rose Shop”
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The Say Yes to Holiness YouTube Channel
Episode #254—”Created to Create—1:1 with Racquel Rose, Founder, The Little Rose Shop
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle content continues! Here is the latest...
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle is a initiative that shares and discusses content from my upcoming book (also to be named The Catholic Leadership Puzzle) that focuses upon how we each can help to create life-giving communities where we can become the holy men and women that God created us to be.