WELCOME 2018

Looking for a creative way to celebrate Advent as a family? Below are some ideas for family prayer, devotions, activities, and more!
 
Create a Jesse Tree
Instead of putting up your Christmas tree on Thanksgiving, consider decorating a Jesse Tree.  The Jesse Tree was created to help people link the custom of decorating trees to the events leading up to Jesus’ birth and the prophecies about him in the Old Testament as the Jewish people awaited their long-foretold messiah.   Many parishes and families make Jesse Trees during Advent to remind them of these events as they prepare for Christmas.  Each day an ornament is added to the tree beginning with Creation and then representing events through the biblical timeline to Christ’s birth.
Check out this link, or see us in the Religious Education office for more information on the ornaments used in this tradition.
 
 http://www.loyolapress.com/the-jesse-tree.htm
 
Advent wreath
One of the most recognizable Catholic symbols of the Advent season is the Advent wreath.The concept of the Advent wreath actually originated in pre-Christian times when people would gather evergreens and light candles to ward off the darkness of winter and serve as a sign of hope that spring would come.
 
By the 16th century, Catholics in Germany began using the wreath as a sign of Christ’s coming.  From there the tradition slowly spread throughout the world as Germans immigrated to various countries.
 
Advent wreaths are easy to make (see box) and create a strong connection for children between the events at church and at home.  See this link for blessing you home’s Advent wreath:
http://www.loyolapress.com/blessing-an-advent-wreath.htm
 

 
Other Blessings:
There are also blessings families can do for their crèches (http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/objects/blessing-of-a-christmas-manger-or-nativity-scene.cfm) (but don’t place Jesus in the manger until December 25!)  and Christmas trees! (http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/objects/blessing-of-a-christmas-tree.cfm). Consider making this a family tradition, and help involve your younger children in this custom!
 
 
Attend Advent Carols and Lessons - Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 pm in the Church.  This is a great way to introduce the music we hear in church during Advent to your children. We also hear lessons from Scripture that recount the story of salvation: from creation, to the fall, to the promise of a Messiah, the Incarnation, and Jesus’ command to share the Good News. This is a great “crash course” on the story of our faith, as well as a great “sampler” of the richness of the Advent music tradition.
 
Reconciliation – We will celebrate Reconciliation as a parish on Tuesday, December 18 at 7:00 pm. We will also have Reconciliation for our CCD & CGS students on Monday, December 10 at 5:30 pm or Wednesday, December 12 at 4:00 or 6:30 pm. Parents are welcome to join their children for the celebration of Reconciliation during class time!
 
Taize - Taizé prayer is the creation of a monastic community in Taizé, France, founded in the 1940s by a Swiss man known as Brother Roger.  It is a quiet, candlelit service with singing, prayer and meditation. We will host a Taize prayer service on December 11 at 7:00 pm. Taize services are also celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Saint Joe South Bend, and many other parishes – it is a unique way to pray that is easy to learn and can have a powerful impact!Read the Magnificat together - Both an adult and a family version of the Magnificat will be distributed at the beginning of Advent to all parishioners.  The Magnificat contains daily readings and reflections or prayers and can be a great way for families to bring communal prayer into your daily life.
Participate in a Community or Parish Service Project – The opportunities to help needy causes abound during the holiday season.
 
Create a Personal Service Project – This is a great way to model the Year of Mercy for your children and community.  Family members watch for opportunities throughout their days to help others in need.  These can be small things like holding the door for the shopper behind you, donating your unused hats and mittens, or helping another child in the lunchroom clean up their dropped tray.  Family members can report these to each other, or create a paper chain of deeds to decorate the tree or mantel.  When I was a child, we placed a piece of yarn or straw for each deed in the family manger scene to make a soft bed awaiting the arrival of the baby Jesus.
 
Celebrate the Saints - As if December wasn’t busy enough, some of the most interesting and inspiring Saints celebrate their feast days during Advent.
 
Saint Nicholas, Dec. 6 - observed on December 6 in the United States, is the Saint in which the idea of Santa Claus was originally derived -- from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint's name in that language. Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Greek Bishop of Myra, and became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.
In Europe, especially in Germany and Poland, boys dress as bishops begging alms for the poor.   In Ukraine, children wait for St. Nicholas to come and to put a present under their pillows.  In the Netherlands, Dutch children put out a clog filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas' horse.  In the United States, one custom associated with Saint Nicholas Day has children leaving their shoes in the foyer or at the end of their beds on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas remembers them with a small treat. See https://www.stnicholascenter.org/  for more information about all things St. Nick.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12 - While not a saint, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, remembers the appearance of Our Lady to San Juan Diego in 1531 and is an important holiday in Mexico filled with dancing and feasting.  (Think taco bar!) This miraculous event brought Catholicism to an entire continent and is a fascinating and illuminating miracle.  Our Lady of Guadalupe is the subject of a film entitled The Blood & the Rose, and is featured in a number of documentaries available on YouTube.
Saint Lucy, Dec. 13 - Saint Lucy's feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light.  This would be a great day for a candlelit meal!
Pray a Novena
While a novena is normally a nine-day prayer, the term is sometimes used for any prayer that is repeated over a series of days. The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena is often called simply the "Christmas Novena" or the "Christmas Anticipation Prayer," because it is prayed 15 times every day from the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle (November 30) until Christmas. The First Sunday of Advent is the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew (December 3^rd this year).
The novena is not actually addressed to Saint Andrew but to God Himself, asking Him to grant our request in the honor of the birth of His Son at Christmas. You can say the prayer all 15 times, all at once; or divide up the recitation as necessary (perhaps five times at each meal).
Prayed as a family, the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena is a very good way to help focus the attention of your children on the Advent season.
Saint Andrew Christmas Novena
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen
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