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Advent
Has Christmas Come for You Yet?
One of the things I love about Christmas being celebrated for an octave (or twelve days, or right up until the February 2 Presentation of the Lord if you’re diehard) is that it takes the pressure off December 25th to be the one and only…
Celebrate Mary’s conception, not Jesus’s
During my high school years, I believed the Immaculate Conception was the conception of Jesus. I was taking instruction in religion from a teacher who had a master’s degree in Catholic theology. On Dec. 8, he stood up in front of the class…
“Advent, a call to pacify the world”
Assumptionist priest, Vincent Leclerq, is the postulator for the cause of beatification of Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, who founded the first community of the Augustinians of the Assumption the night of Christmas 1845, in Nîmes. The columnist…
Pilipivka: St. Philip’s Fast
Now I am going to tell you about something that until I did this article I knew next to nothing about — Advent fasting customs of the Eastern Rite. All I knew is that the period of Advent starts way sooner than Advent in the West. Instead…
Five ways to observe Advent
Advent begins Nov. 30 this year. It can be easy to miss out on this liturgical season because of the hectic nature of the holidays. Here are five ways to observe these important weeks before Christmas. Make a Jesse tree Create your own…
How to simplify the holiday season
Let me just start by admitting: I’m writing this to help all of us, myself included. The holiday season – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s – can get a bit out of hand and out of budget sometimes. It can be tempting to get caught up in…
Yule logs, honeybees, and church bells beneath the sea…
Did you know about these Christmas traditions?
How to deal with holiday (and year-round) disappointment
The people we love the most are the ones who know us the best. They know our flaws just as well as they know our strengths. They’ve seen us at our worst and they’ve forgiven us for it. Yet the holidays together can still be a time of…
St. John the Baptist and the call to conversion during Advent
Advent is about watching and preparing. The Mass readings for the First Sunday of Advent reveal this fact to us. Of course, we are watching and preparing for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, at Christmas, but the readings remind us…
Advent’s message for the past, present, and future
The great medieval saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) famously said there are three ways of interpreting the Advent season. More specifically, the three ways of understanding the coming of Christ which the Advent season anticipates. For…