FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Let us go rejoicing! The 1st Sunday of the Advent is upon us. This beautiful season seems to rush past us in the anticipation of Christmas. I hope to slow down this year and savour the candles, the hymns and…
Category Advent
COME, LORD JESUS! BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADVENT
Where did the liturgical year go? We’re almost at the end of this one, with Advent and the new church year just around the corner. I love Advent, but it often flies by before I can really immerse myself in…
SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY!
We begin a new liturgical year. The God of Light comes into our darkness. Our hope is renewed. Advent calls us to slow down and reflect on the beautiful mystery of our faith and the awesome gift of the Incarnation. Come, Lord Jesus.…
ADVENT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, encompassing the season we call Advent, our scripture readings at Mass have for centuries inspired some of the world’s most famous paintings. Every significant artist has tackled at one time or another the…
A MIRACLE AMIDST THE MESS
The season of Advent brings us a dual focus. We anticipate encountering Christ in his second coming and in the celebration of his birth at Christmas. We meet God through history, in grace and in hope at the end of times.…
ADVENT WAITING…
I never really knew what waiting meant until my baby was two weeks overdue. I baked. I read. I walked. I stocked up on diapers and sleepers. Also, my kitchen has never been cleaner. I was attuned to every little…
ADVENT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Advent is a time of preparation and there is no shortage of advice on how to be ready for Christmas. But with these suggestions for Advent reading, I want to take you down a slightly unusual path for the season.…
ADVENT 2020
waiting. waiting. while heaven downloads onto devices a million years old. this could take all month… thank God it’s Advent: season of Hope nested inside Pandemic: season of Brick Walls (objects that stop and block but also prop up helpful…
SEASON OF ADVENT
The world has forgotten Advent. We go from Thanksgiving and Halloween directly to the “Holiday Season,” with Christmas Day as its culmination. It is all tinsel and chimes and Hallmark Card warm-and-fuzzy movies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
A New Year, with Familiar Goals
By Matthew Sottile, Editor We here at Novalis hope you had a wonderful, spiritually enriching and joyous Christmas! As we continue into the New Year, we are reminded that we must reflect and spend times with ourselves, as well as…