This video is brought to you by the Dynamic Catholic Ambassadors Club. 

You're awesome.

Go.

The speed of joy is: 

Holy.

Graceful.

Amazing.

Creative.

Wise.

Beautiful.

Welcome back to Best Advent Ever. Would you like a year off? Someone said to you, "You can have a year off. Full paying benefits. Do whatever you want. What would you do with a year off?" And when we talk about the idea, is the idea attractive to you, and why is it attractive to us? What is it about that that we desire? And we like a year off because we're exhausted, and we just need to recover from the craziness of life or a year off for some adventure. We'd like to grow in some way, we'd like to learn something. What would you do with a year off? The reason I raised the question in the book was because I had an encounter a couple years before I started to write the book and this was the encounter. I ran into a professor from a university on the West Coast. We had worked together on a project many years ago, but I was surprised to see him in Cincinnati. I asked what he was doing in town and he explained he was on sabbatical. Sabbatical? "I didn't know they did that anymore," I exclaimed. "Yes, it's still very common in academia. I have a full year, but it is more common to have six months now," my professor friend explained. "Why Cincinnati?" I asked. "My father grew up here and I wanted to spend some time with him. My mother passed last year, and that was an awakening for me," he explained. "A whole year?" I said almost involuntarily. "What will you do?" "I don't have any plans," he said with a smile.

I was perplexed and he could tell. So he continued, "Most people make all these plans for their sabbatical. They overload the time with all sorts of activities. And then what they do is they approach their sabbatical just like they would a huge and complex project at work. I made that mistake years ago when I had a three-month sabbatical. I made a 12-week plan. Every week had activities and outcomes. It was exhausting," he explained. "No plans?" I questioned. Still confused about how he was going to use or structure a whole year away from his duties as a professor. "One plan," he said, "wake up each morning and see what the day has to offer." "Wow," I exclaimed. "How far into the year are you?" "About two months," he said. "What have you been doing?" Reading, walking, visiting with my dad and his friends, thinking, praying, resting.

On this day when I bumped into that professor, I had been personally working on <em>Slowing Down the Speed of Joy</em> for three years and found the idea of a sabbatical alluring. But who can take a year off? Even so, the idea of a year off or even six months holds great appeal Would you like to take a sabbatical for a year? How do you think it would change your life? If you had a year off, if you had a sabbatical, what would you do? I really want you to think about it. I really want you to reflect upon it. It's easy to reject the idea of saying, "Well, that's impossible. That will never happen. What is even the point of thinking about it?" I do want you to think about it. It will make sense tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. Why I'm asking you to think about it, even though it may seem impossible to you, if you had a sabbatical for a year, what would you do? Think on that, pray on that as you make your way through the world today. I want to invite you to consider getting a copy of <em>Slowing Down the Speed of Joy</em> for everyone in your parish this year. A third of people who come to Mass on Christmas, it's the only time they come to church each year. If a business knew that all of their former customers would be in one place at one time on the same day, they would do everything within their power to win those customers back to their business. As a church, we know that millions and millions of people are going to come to church on Christmas Day. It's the only time they come each year. We don't have to wonder where they will be. They will be in our pews. The question is, do we have a plan? Do we have a strategy to try to win them back to a richer, fuller experience of the genius of Catholicism? The book program has been successful at doing that for 20 years. Think about it, pray about it. Bring this to your parish this year. God bless you. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

Thank you, Ambassadors. You are changing the world.

See you tomorrow.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day. Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Bye-bye.

Simon, come sit.

I love you.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

See you next time. Bye.

Have a great day.