The Advent Wreath

Okay, so Advent begins this coming Sunday, November 28.

Here's a video to give you a bit of background:
American Catholic Video about the Advent Wreath

You can have one in your home this year without much expense at all:

• If you don't have 3 purple and one rose (Pink) candles, white ones will do. You don't need to use tapers. Pillar candles or tea lights are fine. IF you've got purple and rose-colored ribbon to wrap around the white candles or the candle holder, so much the better, but NOT NECESSARY!
• Go out and cut some greenery from around your yard: fir, boxwood... whatever is still green these days.
• Fashion a wreath (either a true circle or lay the branches in a circle-like shape), perhaps on a round tray (use foil or plastic wrap on the bottom if you have tapers that'll drip). IMPORTANT: make sure that the greenery will NOT be near the flame!!!  
• Arrange the candles in the wreath and, voila! Ready to go.

Now what?

• On the first Sunday of Advent, and the rest of that week, you light one purple candle. Maybe during dinner. Maybe during a daily prayer (Our bulletin this past Sunday had a great insert with daily Advent prayers). Maybe during breakfast: whatever works for your family. IMPORTANT: never leave burning candles unattended.
• On the Second Sunday of Advent and the rest of that week, light two purple candles.
• On the Third Sunday of Advent and the rest of that week, light the rose candle and those two purple ones. Do you need to refresh the greenery? Go ahead- no one said you have to keep the same branches for the whole month!
• On the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Dec 19) through Dec 24, light all four candles. That first one might be getting low-- watch out for flames too close to the greenery.

Enjoy this simple and beautiful way to mark our time in preparation for the coming of Jesus.

It's almost the new year!

This Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King, the final Sunday of our liturgical (church) year. That makes the following Sunday (Thanksgiving weekend), the FIRST Sunday of our new year (get out the noisemakers, pop the champagne corks!!)... also known as the first Sunday of Advent.

Does your family have any Advent traditions? Do you light an advent wreath at meal or prayer time? Do you have an Advent calendar?  Please send a comment-- how do you prepare, in a spiritual way, for Christmas?

Sharp listeners will notice a change during mass at the time for the Gospel. The Scripture readings we proclaim on Sunday follow a three year cycle. Each year focuses on one of the three 'synoptic' (means 'similar') Gospels, with John thrown in for good measure at particular times, like Easter season and some of Lent. During Year A, which we are about to begin, we read mainly from the Gospel of Matthew, Year B is Mark and Year C is, you guessed it, Luke. (An easy way to remember, should you EVER need to, is that the lectionary cycle goes in the same order of appearance in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke.)

And a 'lectionary' is the book that has all the Bible readings for those three years in order, so we don't have to keep flipping through the Bible to find our place!

A free activity

Today is the feast of All Saints!  If you go to this link, you can click to download a free and simple crossword puzzle for your child to do (and you can get the answer key too, if you need it!)