Well, this post started out in my enthusiastic mind as a great idea, and then I did the research for it. I knew the “St. Andrew Novena” or “Christmas Novena” was coming up, so I thought I would share all about it with my dear readers. And…it’s much stranger than I thought. The St. Andrew…
Since Christmas is nearly here, your evening prayers can reflect that in a special way, starting tonight. From the beautiful and sacred tradition of the Church’s prayer in the Divine Office (during Vespers), we receive the O Antiphons at the end of Advent. These short prayers, each beginning with an address to God using a…
Advent is a penitential season: thus, the purple. Like Lent, Advent is a time to contemplate our sinfulness that makes us unworthy of the coming of Our Savior. (As an aside: To practice penitence during Advent I have experimented a little bit so far with backing off of consumption of sweets, Lent-style, like Catholics used…
Blessed Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! This being the only apparition I know of in which Our Lady reveals herself as pregnant (I have heard that the black bands around her wrists are an old Mexican tradition denoting pregnancy), today is a great day to post this poem by my all-time favorite Catholic poet, Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins.…
News flash for the commercial, secularized world: it’s not Christmas yet, not until December 25! It’s way too early for “Joy to the World” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” It’s time now for waiting for the Savior, a somber time of yearning and longing: the time to be…
I just learned from a wonderful Advent post at Fisheaters that the Advent candles on your wreath each have a meaning/dedication– 1st Sunday (Purple): Patriarchs 2nd Sunday (Purple): Prophets 3rd Sunday (Rose): St. John the Baptist 4th Sunday (Purple): Our Lady How about that? This season and this tradition just got even more amazing!
By the grace of God, I am a Catholic, although most of my ancestors were not. Just one of my great-grandmothers was a Catholic, but her faith converted her husband and they brought up Catholic children, including my grandmother. She repeated this story, marrying a non-Catholic, and her husband converted. Then their son, my father,…
Happy Advent! (And, of course, Happy New Year!) Here is a photo of one of our favorite family traditions that begins today. On the first Sunday of Advent, our nativity set figurines of Our Lady and St. Joseph begin their journey around our home. They will be in various places (desks, tables, the back of the…
It’s New Year’s Eve for the Catholic Church! On this special day of joy and thanksgiving I have several suggestions for you as you gather around your home altar with your family. Review Blessings. I mentioned on Thursday that it was a good time to start compiling a list of things from the last year that…
It’s Monday of the very last week of the Church Year! This is it, y’all! It’s almost Advent. Are you ready for Advent? Do you have your: • Advent Wreath? Have you got one that you reuse each year, or do you buy/make your own annually out of evergreen branches? It’s time to make sure…
St. Catherine Catholic Culture Center 