Advent Devotionals for 2020

 Advent is right around the corner (it starts on Sunday, November 29th). It can be helpful to have an Advent devotional to add a little something extra to your prayer time and help you get ready for Christmas. Here are three new ones from Ave Maria Press that have crossed my desk recently.

The Living Gospel by Deacon Charles Paolino is a traditional devotional, focusing on prayer, Scripture, reflections, and action. It is a practical guide to deepening your faith and helping you to concentrate on God's desire "not to condemn us, but rather to save us." Each reflection would probably take you about 5 minutes, more if you meditate on the Scripture.

Messages of Joy for Advent and Christmas 2020 by Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran bills itself as a 3-Minute Devotional. This is the Advent devotional for people with a true time crunch who never-the-less still want to do what they can to prepare spiritually for Christmas. It offers a Scripture passage, very short reflection, and a quick action for each day. It focuses on the importance of generosity and how generosity leads to joy. 

"At Christmas we celebrate that God the Father gave us his best by giving us his Son. . . .Since God is a generous giver, growing as followers of Christ means growing in generosity. If we are becoming more like Christ, then we will be generous as he is generous."

 

If you have a teen in your life, you might want to check out Advent and Christmas: One Day at a Time for Catholic Teens by Katie Prejean McGrady and Tommy McGrady. This devotional offers Scripture, prayers, reflection, a "Grow Your Soul" action, and a "Feel Ambitious" (an optional activity to strengthen your soul even more) for each day of Advent and Christmas through Epiphany. This book is evergreen, meaning it can be used during any liturgical year, not only 2020. 

It is designed for "teens to grow and have a deep and abundant trust in the goodness and love of God, who has nothing but the very best plans for you." It is great to have a devotional designed especially for teens.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Purchases made after clicking through an Amazon link on this site help support this blog. Thank you!

Things I am Thankful For, Even in 2020

 

Usually in November, there is an abundance of gratitude on social media. This year, with few exceptions, that hasn't been the case. The stress and strain of 2020 has many people feeling less than grateful. Even our Thanksgiving dinners will be different from year's past. Old traditions will be adjusted. Gatherings will be smaller. It's understandable that many people aren't feeling thankful.

And yet, even in this messy, miserable year, God is present and deserves our thanks and praise every day. So, here is my personal list (in no particular order) of what I'm thankful for in 2020.

1. Family

2. Friends

3. Going to Church and Confession (yes, I'm happy to go even in a mask while social distancing)

4. Home

5. Food

6. My dog Chewie (my long-time best canine friend) and the hamster Hermie (who is a new addition to our family this year)

7. Curbside library pick-up

8. Warm blankets

9. Heat / Air Conditioning

10. Books

11. Restaurant take-out

12. Ice cream

13. Chocolate (12 and 13 could count as part of food but, in my world, they deserve their own category)

14. Internet

15. Social media (at least some of the time!)

16. Amazon (not only because I order lots from them; I also earn money from them)

17. Art supplies

18. Homeschooling (I've never been happier to be a homeschooler as I have been this year)

19. Flowers

20. Sunlamp (which helps me survive the dark days of fall / winter)

21. Modern medicine

22. Essential workers

23. Streaming television/movie channels

24. Memory foam mattress

25. Board games

26. Grocery stores

27. Toilet paper (this probably wouldn't normally be on my list, but in 2020, we can all agree it has taken on a new importancce)

28. Blank notebooks/journals

29. My car

30. My health

31. Work (and the people who hire me to edit or write for them or buy one of my books)

32. Communion of Saints (where would I be without my heavenly friends?)

33. Clothing

34. Smartphones

35. Texting/Messaging (an introvert's best friend)

36. Spellcheck

37. Google

38. Museums

39. The birds and squirrels that come feed on my deck

40. Good neighbors

What's on your list?

(Image by hudsoncrafted from Pixabay)

The Reed of God: A Spiritual Classic

 

Caryll Houselander is one of those names that I’ve heard from time to time, but I had never read anything written by her. Houselander’s The Reed of God was first published in 1944. Ave Maria Press has republished it as part of their Christian Classics series.

Houselander was born in England in 1901. She was baptized at age seven when her mother converted and referred to herself as a “rocking-horse” Catholic. She left the Church when she was 16. She spent the next several years going to art school and exploring various religious traditions before returning to the Catholic faith in 1925. She was a single laywoman who identified with the poor and marginalized. She died in 1954.

In The Reed of God, Houselander offers several reflections on Mary, assuring her readers that “in contemplating her we find intimacy with God.” In considering Mary’s emptiness, Houselander shares that Mary “was a reed through which the Eternal Love was to be piped as a shepherd’s song.” In turn, Houselander invites us to consider how we might be able to empty ourselves so that Christ might work more fully in us. We have been made for His purpose.

Reflecting on Mary’s fiat, her yes to God at the Annunciation, leads one to consider what it truly means to surrender to God’s will for us and to completely trust in God. Houselander asserts that “the remedy for fear is trust in God.” This trust “will not set us free from suffering, but will set us free from anxiety, hesitation, and above all from the fear of suffering.”

During Advent, we wait with Mary, allowing Christ to grow in our lives as he grew within her body. And yet, “she knew that this little son of hers was God’s Son and that God had not given Him to her for herself alone but for the whole world.” This is an important lesson for all mothers. God gives us our children not only for our benefit but as a gift to the world. Our children do not belong to us. They are God’s first. By the same token, Christ is present in a special way in our children. “When you tell your child a story, when you play a game with your little son, you tell a story, you play a game with the Christ Child.”

Houselander also reflects on Mary’s suffering. In giving birth to Christ, she was also called to suffer with Him. God is present in all of our sufferings. As Houselander was writing these words during World War II, suffering was an ever-present reality. Those of us reading these words in our own tumultuous times can also reflect on what suffering means in our lives and where God fits in amidst life’s pain.

Houselander writes from a time and place different from our own. Some of her writings may seem a bit dated as she refers to life as she knew it in the 1940s, but her reflections on Mary offer much for people of all times to ponder. She holds Mary up as the archetype of a Christian. “The one thing that [Mary] did and does is the one thing that we all have to do, namely, to bear Christ into the world.” Reading The Reed of God will encourage you to focus on that essential role in Mary’s life and in your own. 

 

This post includes Amazon links. Purchasing an item after clicking through the link helps support this site.

 

 

Four Seasons Quilt

 This was my quilting project for the past year. I finished it last night. I actually had way more time to quilt than usual due to quarantine. In recent years, I've gotten more into art quilting. This quilt has one panel for each season. It worked out that I was working on the corresponding seasons as the seasons past. I did fall in fall 2019 and went on from there. My favorite panel is winter. 

 

The Boy Who Knew - Blessed Carlo Acutis

 

 

Ven. Carlo Acutis is being beatified October 10, 2020. Born in 1991, he died in 2006 of leukemia but managed to pack a great deal into his short life. In many ways he was a modern teen. He enjoyed video games and football. He even played Pokémon. He was also something of a computer genius who might end up the patron saint of the internet. He also had an incredibly deep faith and helped share Eucharistic miracles with the world.

Corinna Turner’s new book, The Boy Who Knew, introduces readers to Blessed Carlo Acutis while at the same time offering a fast-paced quick read that will keep ages ten and up turning pages. The story takes place from October 3^rd to October 12^th, 2020 (yes, Covid-19 is part of the story and masks and social distancing are a thing).

Daniel is a teen who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. He tells his parish priest about it who recommends that Daniel make a novena to Blessed Carlo Acutis, inviting him to be his prayer buddy. Daniel reluctantly decides it is worth a shot. As Daniel faces his own mortality and his father’s anger with God over Daniel’s diagnosis, he offers the daily prayers, learning more about Carlo each day.

The Boy Who Knew is an excellent book for teens to read or for a family to use as a read-aloud. Turner has included the Novena to Blessed Carlo Acutis at the end of the book. It is so rare to have a young modern blessed like Carlo for teens to look up to. The Boy Who Knew invites readers to get to know this remarkable young man.

 

This post includes Amazon Affiliate links which help support this site.

Cover Your Grandchildren In Prayer

 

 

One of the greatest gifts a child can have is a grandparent who prays. Julie Cragen, author of Bless My Child, has written Bless My Grandchild: A Catholic Prayer Book for Grandparents. This is a beautiful compilation of prayers covering almost every intention one might have for a grandchild.

The first section is “Prayers for before My Grandchild is Born”. It includes a prayer for a couple struggling with infertility and a prayer for grieving a miscarriage. There are prayers for new mothers and fathers and for twins or multiple births.

“Prayers for Newborn and Infant Grandchildren” includes prayers for a mother in labor, a baby in intensive care, an adopted grandchild, a prayer of thanksgiving for a new baby, prayers for children with health issues or special needs, and one for grieving the death of a baby.

In “Prayers for Sacramental Graces”, there are prayers for a grandchild receiving baptism, making his or her first reconciliation, first communion, confirmation, getting married, or receiving the anointing of the sick, as well as prayers for altar servers and those discerning a religious vocation.

Other sections include “Prayers to Help My Grandchild Grow in Virtue”, “Prayers for my Growing Grandchild”, “Prayers for Elementary and Middle School Years”, “Prayers for Teenage Years”, “Prayers for Adult Grandchildren”, and “Prayers for Serious Needs”.  The final section features traditional prayers and novenas.

There is always a reason to pray for a grandchild. While we can use traditional prayers or simply raise our grandchild’s intentions to God at Mass or the silence of our hearts, Bless My Grandchild offers words for many of the intentions we might have. This collection of prayers would make a lovely gift to offer to any of the Catholic grandparents in your life.