Celebrating Liturgical Seasons
Growing by Experiencing the Feasts and Seasons of the Church Year
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Beginning the Church's liturgical year, Advent (from, "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to") is the season encompassing the four Sundays (and weekdays) leading up to the celebration of Christmas. In 2019, Advent begins on Sunday, December 1.
The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. The final days of Advent, from December 17 to December 24, focus particularly on our preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas). |
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Advent Customs and Resources
Scroll down for more Advent music!
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Songs for Advent:
A Playlist of Waiting Songs December is filled with Christmas music and carols that focus in on the babe in the manger, rather than the coming King. As an antidote to the hyperfocus on December 25, Anam Cara Ministries has curated a list of waiting songs and hymns that help tune our hearts to this time. (You can access it here or by clicking on the image at the left.)
And, if you have little ones, they highly recommend the album Waiting Songs by a band called Rain for Roots. It's full of singable songs that help kids understand the struggles and hope of waiting for God. |
Scripture Reflections and Artwork on our Worship Tab
Each week of Advent and Christmas, we will upload a new reflection resource on our Worship tab. There you will find a prayer, illustration, and a reflection on the Sunday Scripture and a reflection for each weekday-about the day's Scripture, saint, or Catholic practices, along with a smaller illustration. Citations for Scripture readings are included with each day.
Create a Cosmic Wreath for Advent
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The Laudato Si’ COSMIC ADVENT WREATH is an adaptation of the traditional advent wreath which each year makes its way out of the dark storage closets and into the light of our homes and church sanctuaries. The COSMIC ADVENT WREATH brings Pope Francis encyclical letter, Laudato Si’ to life in a new way.
There are two PDFs to download.
FIRST is the 2-sided Laudato Si' cosmic advent wreath paper design, with the the four major births of the Cosmos that have brought us to this moment in history: birth of the universe, birth of the solar system, birth of Jesus the Christ, your birth into the whole cosmic body of the universe. The SECOND is the candle lighting prayers
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Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis, 2017
In our monastic community, we are directing our thought, prayer, and planning to that time of stillness in the cave/womb that prepares us to reach out to the cosmos and “all nations” at Epiphany. Spiritually, a cave symbolizes spiritual protection, rebirth, and the invitation to something new. The cosmos beckons us to share our reborn selves with the world.
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2018 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar
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Every day until Tuesday, December 25, this page will present one new incredible image of our universe from NASA's Hubble telescope. Be sure to bookmark this calendar and come back every day until the 25th, or follow on Twitter (@TheAtlPhoto), Facebook, or Tumblr for daily updates. I hope you enjoy these amazing and awe-inspiring images and the efforts of the science teams who have brought them to Earth.
Click here for the Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar. Scroll down for more Advent Calendar suggestions. |
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Daily or Weekly Reflections
Best Advent Ever 2019 from Dynamic Catholic
Are You Ready to Get Ready?
SO… WHAT IS BEST ADVENT EVER?
It’s a totally free and totally awesome daily video program (sent straight to your email)
that will help you prepare for Christmas like never before!
Click here to sign up.
Are You Ready to Get Ready?
SO… WHAT IS BEST ADVENT EVER?
It’s a totally free and totally awesome daily video program (sent straight to your email)
that will help you prepare for Christmas like never before!
Click here to sign up.
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Sacred Advent from Sacred Space
Embrace the Advent season as a sacred space from the ease of your e-mail inbox. Sacred Advent is a daily e-mail prayer break during a busy season. Each day invites you to a step-by-step progression of praying with a Scripture reading and related points of reflection. The messages also include suggestions for further exploration of Advent themes through additional online articles and prayers. Based on the writings of Sacred Space—the trusted online prayer site by the Irish Jesuits--Sacred Advent will make this Advent a season filled with sacred moments. Sign up to receive the daily messages from the First Sunday of Advent through the Christmas season. |
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Bishop Barron's Daily Advent Reflections
Bishop Robert Barron will once again offer FREE daily reflections throughout the season of Advent. (These are unique and different from the daily Gospel reflections he now sends out each day.) Sign up at AdventReflections.com, and from Sunday, December 1, through Wednesday, December 25 (Christmas Day), Bishop Barron will send you a short email with an uplifting spiritual reflection. You'll also receive exclusive videos, access to free giveaways of Bishop Barron's DVDs and books, and special discounts on new and exciting resources. Bishop Barron will be offering these reflections in both English and Spanish so even more people can benefit. |
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OSP Advent Reflections
Members of "Out at St. Paul," a vibrant LGBT ministry at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City (run by the Paulists) will be offering daily Advent meditations geared towards LGBT Catholics and their friends and families. To sign up to receive these meditations, just email them at osp@stpaultheapostle.org, and they will send them to you, or look for them everyday, once Advent begins, at http://www.outatstpaul.org/. |
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Advent Calendars
The USCCB Advent calendar can help you fully enter into the season with daily activity and prayer suggestions to prepare you spiritually for the birth of Jesus Christ. Busted Halo's 2018 Advent Surprise Calendar brings a sense of surprise by showing you the whole calendar, but not letting you “open” each day and find out what’s behind the picture until that day comes along. Each day, the link will lead you to a special Advent-themed Daily Jolt and MicroChallenge. Loyola Press Advent Calendar for Adults invites you to slow down this season and discover the quiet moments of Advent hope. Each day of Advent, you’ll be directed to a reflection, media link, or activity to inspire you. Bloggers Vinita Hampton Wright, Joe Paprocki, Paul Brian Campbell, SJ, Jim Manney, and others share resources to nurture your spirituality at this busy time of year. The Irish Catholic Bishop's Advent Calendar for 2017 includes an audio thought for the day on a different theme for each day of Advent. |
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Traditionally, Advent wreaths are constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which four candles are inserted, representing the four weeks of Advent. Ideally, three candles are purple and one is rose, but white candles can also be used.
The purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and goods works undertaken at this time. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, when the priest also wears rose vestments at Mass; Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday of rejoicing, because the faithful have arrived at the midpoint of Advent, when their preparation is now half over and they are close to Christmas. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of his second coming to judge the living and the dead. |
Jesse Trees
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The Jesse Tree helps us connect the custom of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to Jesus' birth. The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of King David. We adorn a Jesse Tree with illustrated ornaments that represent the people, prophesies, and events leading up to the birth of Jesus. The ornaments of the Jesse Tree tell the story of God in the Old Testament, connecting the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across four thousand years of history.
The Loyola Press Jesse Tree offers ornament ideas, in depth reflections, and links to bible verses.
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Art and Music
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Prepare for Christmas and deepen your experience of the Advent season this year with Arts & Faith: Advent. Each week Loyola Press will provide a video commentary about a work of art inspired by the Sunday Scriptures. Use these videos to take a new look at this season of hope and preparation through the lens of sacred art.
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Andrae Crouch, Jessy Dixon - Soon and Very Soon [Live]
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Imagine - Kristyn Getty, Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg
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Amy Grant - Breath Of Heaven
This song was originally written by Chris Eaton, but Amy Grant wanted to record it and asked Chris if she could rewrite some of the lyrics from a woman's perspective, namely Mary. Chris agreed. So this is Amy's version. The images are from the wonderful movie "Nativity Story"; if you have not seen it, do it, whether it's Christmastime or not.
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O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Traditional 12th century Latin hymn, English text with lyrics performed by a traditional choir. |
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Be Born in Us Today
A contemporary song for Advent by David Haas. |
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Holy is His Name
John Michael Talbot live in concert. |
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O Antiphons - December 17 - 24
December 17 marks the beginning of the "O" Antiphons, an ancient part of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ. The Church recalls the variety of the ills of man before the coming of the Redeemer. For more information on the O Antiphons, see Observing the O Antiphons by Jennifer Gregory Miller. Find activities for the O Antiphons at CatholicCulture.org and Catholic Icing. |
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Online Classes
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The Birth of Jesus: Two Gospel Narratives is a free, online, self-paced tutorial written and narrated by Philip A. Cunningham, former Executive Director of Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. It is a collaborative project of the Center and STM Online: crossroads.
The tutorial begins by exploring how the Catholic tradition and recent biblical scholarship understand the origins of the Gospels and their proper interpretation, continues with discussions of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, and concludes by considering the two infancy narratives in relation to what is known historically about the late Second Temple period, their similar theological lessons, and some reflections on how they inform the Christian faith in our world today. Click here for more information. |
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Explore the Scriptures of Advent and Christmas for a richer celebration of these seasons. In this course you will have the opportunity to break open the Church's weekday readings for Advent, with emphasis on the dynamic of promise and fulfillment between the Old and New Testament readings as they are organized in the Lectionary. Then, take a closer look at the infancy narratives, and the distinctive approaches taken by the Evangelists. In addition, there will be recommendations for personal prayer practices in preparation for Christmas. No prior experience in Scripture study is necessary.
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This course explores three key events in Luke’s portrayal of Mary as the mother of Jesus: the Annunciation, the Visitation, and, the proclamation of the Canticle of Mary. Explore these and other images of the Blessed Mother through the centuries and what they tell us about the call to trust God’s plan, the active dimension of receiving God’s work, and the value of human encounters for deepening our understanding of the divine work in our lives.
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