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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Advent plans | Family Fun | Instagram
It can be incredibly difficult to keep Jesus the focus of our Advent season. Feeling the pressure of creating a 'perfect' Christmas day with all its trimmings, we often overlook the importance of celebrating Advent! The Snap Advent Photo Challenge, created by my late friend, Laure Lynch, and me in 2014, seemed the perfect way to help us focus our attention on seasonal words that kept us grounded in Advent. In addition to being an innovative and entertaining way to evangelize.
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Advent plans | Blessed Virgin Mary | Faith
During Advent, we are called to pray, fast, and practice almsgiving in order to not only prepare our hearts and homes for the celebration of Jesus's birth, but also for His Second Coming. Advent differs from Lent in that we are called to prepare with joy and hope; after all, we continue to sing the Alleluia throughout. It is a time of penance and festivity. How appropriate then to focus on the fiat of Mary, which set into motion the first Advent.
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Brief and contemporary inspiration focused on hope and family prayer will be delivered to your inbox! Articles include live video, written word, and links to resources that will lead you and your family deeper into faith.
Enough means having or doing what is required; nothing else is needed; stop. However, as I take in information from people around me and the world, I sense that enough can be taken as giving up or not doing your best. I hear the question, “Am I doing enough?” spoken quietly with a look of concern that somehow, the person is letting others down. Am I doing enough for my children husband, and employer? The list can be endless. And then the question is applied to our spiritual life.
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Advent plans | Parenting | St. Joseph
Colleen Mallette reviews the qualities of St. Joseph that we can follow to be better parents, especially during Advent. One of the wonderful qualities St. Joseph exemplifies is his example of good parenting especially important for us to consider during the harried weeks of the Advent season.
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Now is the time to plan for less stress this Advent. Maria Gallagher offers four ways to spend Advent preparing, rather than rushing. Growing up in my overachiever household, Advent meant “Ready, set, rush!” Rush to purchase presents … rush to decorate the house for Christmas and New Year’s … rush to bake the holiday cookies. Advent was basically a countdown to Christmas, with all the calmness of “The Amazing Race.”
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Advent plans | family prayer | family tradition
It took most of my adult life, but I finally bought four sets of Advent candles at once. This decision saves me the inevitable post-Thanksgiving scramble to find candles. The previous last-minute candle frenzy mirrored too much of the secular holiday season … go go go. Here is my proposition for this upcoming Advent season: let’s reclaim this time for our families, our sanity, and mostly for our deepening relationship with Jesus. Here are some of my suggestions for doing so this year.
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