Advent

light of Advent

Mercy’s Light

By Steph Ebert | December 7, 2023

As Advent approaches and it gets darker in the northern hemisphere, the daylight in South Africa, where I live, stretches longer and longer. I haul out my Advent candles, which in the summer heat often end up slumped over by Christmas Day, and place them on the table.  I need the light.  South Africa is…

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orange cutout Christmas ornament of a deer sits on a shelf

Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season

By Meta Herrick Carlson | October 20, 2023

Perhaps you are a planner and October doesn’t seem too early to start talking about the Christmas season. You’re already formatting your Christmas card picture, booking travel plans, or deciding which days you’ll take PTO and which days you’ll “work from home” while kids are around on winter break from school.  I’m not very proactive…

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Advent ideas for families

Advent Week 4: Prayers & Practices for Parents

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 23, 2022

Easy Advent Practices: Week 4 Surprise neighbors with Christmas cookies. Talk with your kids about what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Give your child one extra hug each day. With all the bustle and busyness of December, we can forget that the simplest practices bring the most joy. “If I have all…

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Advent prayers parents love

Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Love

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 21, 2022

God of love, You came to us within a family. You know how hard family life can be. This season when we gather with relatives, Especially those we don’t see often, Be with us through our challenges and conflicts. We give You all the hard things we cannot carry alone: Grief and grudges. Disappointment and…

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Advent practices with kids

Advent Week 3: Prayers & Practices for Parents

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 16, 2022

Easy Advent Practices: Week 3 This year we’re sharing easy (and free!) ways to deepen your prayer as a parent in Advent: an activity to share with your children and a Scripture verse for you to pray later.  Pray before you buy for each person on your Christmas list. Or keep a prayer list of…

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Advent prayers parents

Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Joy

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 14, 2022

God of joy, This can be a heavy time of year for our mental health. For many of us, the world outside grows cold and dark. The sun sets early. The wind blows hard. Our minds and bodies suffer From the lack of light and shorter days. We were already struggling, but now everything feels…

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advent for parents

Advent Week 2: Prayers & Practices for Parents

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 9, 2022

Easy Advent Practices: Week 2 This year we’re sharing easy (and free!) ways to deepen your prayer as a parent in Advent: an activity to share with your children and a Scripture verse for you to pray later.  Print religious images to pray with. Try Google Image to find artwork with Advent themes, or check…

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Advent prayers parents

Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Peace

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 7, 2022

God of peace, We’ve done it again. We’ve crammed our calendar full to bursting. We don’t know how we’ll get it all done. December is packed with Parties, plays, and performances, Christmas concerts and celebrations At school and church and work And everywhere in between— Shopping, planning, decorating, baking, Prepping, giving, buying, wrapping, Doing, doing,…

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Advent practices for parents

Advent Week 1: Prayers & Practices for Parents

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 2, 2022

Easy Advent Practices: Week 1 This year we’re sharing simple (and free!) ways to deepen your prayer as a parent in Advent: an activity to share with your children and a Scripture verse for you to pray later. Light a candle when you get up in the morning, in the bathroom as you get ready…

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Advent for overwhelmed parents

Advent Prayers for Overwhelmed Parents: Hope

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | November 30, 2022

God of hope, Help us in this season of stress, This beautiful time of year that Can bring added burdens. Less money, more expenses, increased anxiety, Christmas coming right around the corner— Everything feels overwhelming right now. For rising costs and mounting bills. For Christmas lists and year-end deadlines. For groceries and gas and everything…

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pregnancy complicated joy

Complicated Joy

By Katie Cassady | November 28, 2022

For all of the beauty found in celebrating the liturgical year, I find that marking milestones by these holy seasons and rituals has a tendency to make whatever experience that much more intense and emotional for me. Pregnancy announcements during Advent—potent. Witnessing conversion and Baptism at Easter Vigil—stick a fork in me. Gifts of selflessness…

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come, the still-joys

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | December 3, 2017

He laughs now, this rolling plump of a babe. Chortles like a chuckling gentleman when I tickle under his chin. The laughter is intoxicating; we are all addicted. His doting brothers swarm the changing table for a chance to coax out another. In the instant when his round eyes brighten and his soft mouth opens…

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