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advent

A meditation on Mary’s heart at the Nativity

When you have good news to share, who is the first person you want to tell? Your closest friend or most respected mentor probably has the honor of receiving your first phone call before you share your joy with a wider audience on social media.

'O Holy Night’: A carol for the weary during Advent, Christmas

The Christmas song that always slays me, jolts me out of my secular complacency and reminds me that this is an absolutely sacred moment in history is the carol “O Holy Night.”

He who is to come

We tend to look on the season of Advent as the time to prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus in a stable on Christmas. But a careful study of the readings chosen for Advent in the early centuries reveals that the church at the start of a new liturgical year was more concerned with celebrating Jesus as “he who is to come.”

During Advent, rediscover a place of rest with Edith Stein

The second reading for the Third Sunday of Advent is a place of personal resonance: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

Naming God: Atlas or Advent?

Some years ago, when I was the pastor of a large city parish, I was having dinner with some parishioners. At one point, one of the family members said that when it comes down to it, all religions are the same. “They all share the same purpose and goal: to help people come to God,” he said. “Yes,” I responded, “there may be some truth to that, but Christianity actually turns that around, because at the core of our belief is not so much that we come to God, but that God comes to us.”

Weeks of longing

We have entered the longest four weeks of the year. By which I mean the weeks before Christmas, when kids large and small know their presents are coming, might even be in the house already, but they can’t have them yet.

Prepare the (digital) way of the Lord during the rest of Advent season

As we approach the halfway point of Advent, we are likely busy with our preparations for a Christmas that will look different this year.

Parishes take Advent activities online during the pandemic

When Mary Jane Sullivan began the process of assembling her Advent wreath Nov. 29, she went step by step, showing what she was doing to the roughly 80 families that were following along.

A year of Advent

Every day when we walk the dog, we see more houses with Christmas decorations up. There are lights on bushes, fences and porch railings, flags, Santas on sleighs affixed to house fronts.

Seeking the face of God? Look around you

How many of you, when asked, “How are you doing?”, have replied, “I’m just waiting for this year to end”?
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