My best Christmases have been those with good Advents beginning with making time with our Savior a priority. It’s not the kind of time that gets checked off a list but the kind where we are infused with love and peace — the true spirit of Advent. This season is a time to set aside […]
My wife and I sat on the couch, the room dark except for a strand of colored lights wound around the Christmas tree and the flickering candles in the Advent wreath. We’d just finished reading our Advent reflection and saying the Rosary. Now we sat together and watched snow swirl outside the window. This time […]
There is more to Christmas than just Christ’s birth. It serves as the beginning of an epic, and Advent is the prologue whereby we prepare for the first spellbinding chapter. There’s a thread running through Christmas that ties into so many other Christological elements, including Christ as Divine Lover, in concert with the poetry of […]
It is 1535 London. The prior of the Carthusian monks at the London Charterhouse tries to prepare his brothers for a coming persecution, martyrdom for many of them. The Prior, John Houghton exhorts his brother Carthusians to prepare their hearts by a general confession to God, and gives leave that every one should choose any […]
To live the meaning of “prepare.” The meaning of “wait.” A tradition as simple as the lighting of the stately lavender tapers, ring of purples and pink, each boy eagerly anticipating leading the nightly prayer. Or reciting the scripture verse. And do they ever read this verse with care, as their first Advent morning utterances […]
Adoration: The intense and greatest admiration culminating in reverent worship of the divine. Acts of homage in words of praise, prayer or gifts that express the adoring attitude of the creature in the presence of his Creator. The expression of the soul’s mystical realization of God’s presence (Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1901). There is just one […]
One of the things I love about Advent and Christmas is the extra emphasis on the Blessed Mother. As a motherless Catholic, it’s been easy to embrace Mary as my own mother and I always love hearing the Scriptures about her this time of year. Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com. For most of my years […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Zephaniah 3:14-18 2nd Reading: Philippians 4:4-7 Responsorial: (Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6 Gospel: Luke 3: 10-18 Advent, A Time to Trust in Jesus and His Power and Strength I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. (Luke 3:16) If you’ve […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Baruch 5:1-9 2nd Reading: Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Responsorial: Psalm 126:1-6 Gospel: Luke 3:1-6 Advent, A Time to Respond to God’s Good Work in Us The one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it. (Philippians 1:6) Every winter, the […]
I guess you never know how little faith you have, until it is tested. Faith never grows, unless it is tested. I have found it to be a vicious lifelong cycle. I think I have faith, it gets tested, and I realize how little faith I have after all. I have been praying for something […]
1st Sunday of Advent “Advent” is simply the Latin word for “coming.” If we can manage to meditate on any “coming” in December besides the comings and goings of Christmas shopping, it would be Christ’s coming to Mary in a stable But the liturgy of the first three weeks of Advent speaks of another coming, […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12,14,16; Psalm 89:2-5,27,29; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38) Advent: A Time to Give Glory to God The Lord … will establish a house for you. (2 Samuel 7:11) Imagine David’s surprise when God denied his request to build a temple but promised instead to build […]
Dutifully, Catholics go on the hunt each year for the highly coveted, purple and pink candle ensemble vital to any serious Advent wreath. I’m eighty-seven percent sure that I buy a replacement set after Christmas in anticipation of the following liturgical season. I proudly congratulate myself for thinking ahead, taking advantage of the sale price, […]
2 Pt 3:8-14 We await new heavens and a new earth Wasted time is not a prized commodity in American society. We are a people ruled by the calendar and the clock. “Time is money,” we say, because time is to be filled with purposeful controlled activity which is to be productive of things that […]
Advent is a time of joyful anticipation. For someone even bigger than Santa Claus is coming to town. The human race has been waiting a long time for his next and final visit. Actually, it waited a long time for the first visit. Things had gone awry quite early in the history of the human […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11; Psalm 85:9-14; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8) Advent, A Time to Prepare the Way for the Coming of the Lord He will prepare your way. (Mark 1:2) Clearly, John the Baptist was a mighty man of God. He was an ambassador called to prepare the […]
Farmers pause in their fields at midday and bow their heads in prayer. [i] Businessmen and women overhear the ringing bells during their lunch break in the downtown business district. And neighbors to Catholic Churches may hear the church bells toll at six, noon, and six as an invitation to pray the traditional devotion of […]
Have you ever had one of those days when you just wish God would show up, snap his figures and work miracles? The people of Israel had about 500 years’ worth of days like that, groaning under the oppression of one tyrant after another. The book of Isaiah gives voice to these sentiments: “O that […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 63:16-17,19; 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37) Advent, A Time of Watching, Waiting, and Expectation Be watchful! Be alert! (Mark 13:33) And so Advent begins with the call to be alert. There’s one group of people, however, who don’t need any reminding: children! They […]
I’m like a Christmas caterpillar. During the holidays, I put on a fuzzy sweater and eat my way through the season. By the Epiphany, the sweater is a little snug. But that’s ok. I think of it as just a phase in my evolving yuletide metamorphosis, as I pass through different stages of development on […]
This is it — we’ve reached the Fourth Week of Advent and the fourth virtue for this series. We will conclude with a final summary next week, but for now, please take the time to revisit the past three weeks here and enjoy this last reflection. WEEK FOUR (December 22-24): JUSTICE “Justice … consists in […]
“Actions speak louder than words.” “One picture is worth a thousand words.” “Talk is cheap.” There are lots of different sayings in the English language that generally express the same thing–words alone don’t do the necessary job of communicating, especially in the case of a personal message. Like “I love you,” for instance. So human […]
Rejoice! (Gaudete!) We’re already halfway through the season of Advent. If you missed Weeks One and Two, or if you would like to reread them, they can be found here and here. This week, we match the cardinal virtue of temperance to our Advent journey. THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT (December 15-21): TEMPERANCE The Apostle James exhorts us in […]
Saint James the Just, one of Christianity’s early leaders, counsels readers across the ages to be patient but productive while waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. The canonical epistle composed by James (or by his community of disciples) urges his audience—“The Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion”—to be patient and to continue to live holy […]
