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God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen continue reading

Today's the start of this year's Advent cycle, leading up to another Christmas. With my culture's annual focus on flying reindeer, decorated trees, and overflow crowds in Bethlehem, this verse from today's Gospel reading might sound odd: " 25 Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." ( Matthew 24:42 ) We know when Jesus came, and where. That happened about two thousand years ago, near the east end of the Mediterranean. Advent is the season when we look back at our Lord's first arrival. That's important. It's also when we look ahead, to the day when the Son of man returns. That's important, too. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Gospel Matt 24:37- 44 NRSV, Cath.Ed Jesus said to his disciples: For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. One will be taken and one will be left- Matthew 24:40 In February 2000 a friend of mine, Daisy, an enginee

"Blessed are you who believe that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." [ Luke 1:45 ] We all like to get our way. Okay, I won't speak for everyone. So let me rephrase that, 99.9% of us like to get our way as often as possible (myself included of course). Okay, I don't really know the exact number, but my guess is, it's pretty high. From a very early age we start striving to make sure that our wants are being met (even long after we start realizing that others have needs, wants and feelings too). And so, we grab toys away from other kids. We beg mom and dad to make our favorite food for dinner. We want to have absolute control of the TV. (Who can stand those shows adults watch anyway?) And we cry and throw tantrums when things don't go our way. (But I don't want to go to bed now!) More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Guest post)

Today's first Bible reading doesn't include the last part of Micah 5:4.... ...I'm guessing that's because we see these verses mostly as they relate to our Lord's birth, about seven centuries later. Folks in Micah's day had more immediate concerns: " 3 he shall be peace. If Assyria invades our country and treads upon our land, We shall raise against it seven shepherds, eight men of royal rank; " 4 And they shall tend the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword; And we shall be delivered from Assyria, if it invades our land and treads upon our borders. " ( Micah 5:4 - 5 ) Micah lived around Isaiah 's time, a bit over 27 centuries back. Assyria's leaders were trying to unite the (western) world into a single empire, and succeeding: for the moment.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Master of the Hours of Maréchal de Boucicaut Book of Hours of Maréchal de Boucicaut, 1405-08. Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris Gospel Luke 1:39-45 ( NRV – Catholic Ed ., Can.) In those days, Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” The Visitation , El Greco, 1610-13 Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC About eight years ago I celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Visitation in a home for girls where most come from

Advent is a proverbial time of waiting  and listening in the darkness for the birth of the Christ Child within our own hearts.  However, the biggest stumbling block to truly listening is our self-important business. Henri Nouwen S.J., Jesuit author and university prof,  complained to God about all the students who came to his office, interrupting his writing of an important book. God’s answer? “I just gave you that book to write to keep you busy in between appointments; your real work is all those interruptions.” No matter what our occupation, we tend to think that our work, our agenda is important. It is almost in our nature to let ambition and drive push other people to the fringes of our awareness while we toil in an isolated bubble of self-importance. There are many methods that can shake us out of this selfish obsession but for me as a mother, it was my children.                                 continue reading

Sometimes the activities of Advent and Christmas can feel like an intrusion. Day to day life is more or less put on hold by an urgent need to shop and wrap and plan. Chairs and tables are displaced by, of all things, a tree in the middle of our house.  There is no time to do ordinary things, as everyday life is seriously disrupted for weeks on end. It can seem like a major interruption.   A few years ago, the truth of it hit me. This is what Christmas has been since the instant of the Incarnation: an interruption. Please stay with me here, because our first reaction to the word “interruption” could be negative.  But interruptions are often quite positive, and this Interruption was the most positive of them all.... (continue...)

"Some people are crying this week. Not everyone is in the mood for Christmas."  Those were providential words for me one Advent as I came to terms with a death in my family. Some people are in mourning this week. You, perhaps? Death of a loved one, loss of a job, a relationship falling apart: grief and pain and loss don’t take the season  off. Christmas can be hard to take. I learned this firsthand a few years back. Think of the people hurting this Advent. Please, reach out. It makes a difference. I’ve felt it. It might be the best pro-life ministry you could perform right now. The Friday before Advent in 2000, my father succumbed to cancer. Read the full post at Leaven for the Loaf .  

Advent Is a Time of Waiting But How Do We Wait? Do we wait with joyful expectation or has life’s disappointments left us jaded and closed to any spiritual surprises? Come to think of it, how many of us actually expect to receive any spiritual joy on Christmas morning? When we are secretly cynical, we will not receive a thing, not even a tiny flicker of Light because we have locked the door to our hearts. Then, our cynicism will be confirmed once again; we will cement our cynicism in place for another year. continue reading

In the midst of a secular, godless, 'we're-doing-fine-by-ourselves' world, there appears in this one season a window of opportunity. There is a slot, a crack in the Everyday. A few short weeks during which the whisper of God might be heard through carol or card.... (continue)

Linaoli Tabernacle, St John the Baptist , Fra Angelico, c.1433 Museo di San Marco, Florence [ Web Gallery of Art Gospel Luke 3:1-6 (NRV, Catholic Edition, Can)  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’

Today's post features Advent ideas from lots of great places: Catholic Mom, USCCB, Our Sunday Visitor, Holy Heroes, Loyola Press, and much more. If you've ever wanted an easily-accessible collection of great family resources, this is it! (c)Edyta Linek/Getty Images Please join me at Praying with Grace today!

What is Advent?  According to  Merriam Webster's Dictionary , it is " the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting ," and " the coming of Christ at the Incarnation. " Please go to Being Catholic ... Really to read the rest of the article.  Happy Advent to you!

It’s Advent, the beginning of the liturgical year, penitential and contemplative in tone as befits preparation for a great feast. It’s a blessed relief from any number of things. I enter it this year sick at heart due to some recent events, ready for a time of prayer and quiet and humility and renewal. Keep that elf doll away from me. Throw a curtain around that poinsettia display for a few more weeks. And in regretful (some will say regrettable) defiance of  my bishop’s directive , I am fleeing my parish church for the duration in order to avoid Christmas carols at every Advent Sunday Mass. Read more at Leaven for the Loaf . 

It's been nearly a week since I've seen someone's announcement that the end of days is upon us. False alarms are nothing new. It's been about 18 centuries since St. Hippolytus of Rome figured the Second Coming would happen in the year 500. Swedenborg speculated, in 1758, that the Last Judgment happened in the previous year — I give him points for originality — and Harold Camping got it wrong twice. ( January 25, 2015 ; April 19, 2015 ) Me? I believe what our Lord said: including what's recorded in Mark 13:32 - 37 , which ties in with today's Gospel reading.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee , Rembrandt, 1633, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston [ Web Gallery of Art ] We begin Year C, which highlights St Luke's Gospel. Gospel Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) Jesus said to his disciples “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of

One of our family's favorite Advent traditions is the Advent Book Basket.  Each year I wrap both religious and secular read-alouds in purple and pink paper and we unwrap and read one book per day between December 1 and Christmas Eve. Click here to see our book list for this Advent!   What about you - what are your favorite Advent and Christmas books?

Advent now comes and goes nearly unnoticed. The only thing worth of recognition between Halloween and Christmas is Thanksgiving, and even that has started to take a back seat as major stores start “decking the halls” and major TV stations start putting on Christmas movies in late October and early November. Advent, a delightful period of quiet waiting and anticipation for the coming of the child Jesus passes by largely forgotten. My husband is a Maronite Catholic. Any of you familiar with Eastern Catholicism may have heard that the Eastern Catholic rites follow a different liturgical calendar. Most major feasts, like Christmas and Easter, fall on the same dates, thereby emphasizing the unity of the Church, but other feasts and the general cycle of the liturgical seasons differs. Since we’re a mixed family (I’m Roman Catholic), I like to joke that we can opt for the longer Advent (Maronite calendar) and shorter Lent (Roman Catholic calendar). In all seriousness, though, I deeply

(From John William Waterhouse, via FineArtAmerica.com , used w/o permission.) This morning's Gospel reading is Luke 1:26 - 38 . That's the bit that starts with.... ...This comes a little after an account of Gabriel's interview with Zachariah, Luke 1:10 - 20 . That's when Gabriel personally delivers God's response to Zachariah's prayer: and Zachariah demands proof. Zachariah got proof, all right. He wasn't able to talk for for months. That didn't stop until he agreed with his wife about his son's name: in writing. Elizabeth's name for the boy was John, the same name Gabriel had specified More at A Catholic Citizen in America .