Anticipation Preparation Waiting Waiting Each of the three readings for the Third Sunday of Advent speak of waiting in one form or another Isaiah 35 which hearkens the coming Messiah describes that the ldquo desert and the parched land will exult the steppe will rejoice and bloom They

Readers share suggestions for keeping Christmas sacred

For those of you with children you might want to check out this online and interactive Advent calendar that I located through a link on the Herald of Scotland website It has the 24 days of December prior to Christmas day on the calendar with information on typical Christmas symbols such as reinde

John the Baptist is a bracing sort of fellow eye-opening and not in the slap some Brut on the face kind of way In another blog post we will have to explore how it is that Brut has made a comeback ndash before you say anything it is related to Advent after all as those of us who grew up buyi

One interesting thing I found poking around the Common English Bible website was an Advent Blog Tour There are 25 bloggers each writing on a particular scripture passage for each day of December until Christmas Day None of these bloggers are Catholic and the Scripture passages on which they are c

Advent is here nbsp Yes hard to believe I know nbsp Sometimes it seems that every year we nbsp skip Ordinary Time altogether and go nbsp directly from Lent to Advent nbsp nbsp Ou sont les dimanches d rsquo antan nbsp Before every Advent I tell myself that this year will be different nbs

Advent is a time of desire nbsp We desire the coming of Christ into our lives nbsp The readings from the Book of Isaiah reveal even the earth desiring the presence of God nbsp The wonderful ldquo O antiphons rdquo sung at evening prayer and during the Gospel acclamations towards the end of

Father Joseph Johnson in his homily for the First Sunday of nbsp Advent at the Cathedral of St Paul reflected on something that is very much in the air right now at least for me and those whom I know and read the continuing exteriorizing of life He chose to contrast the life of Facebook Twitter

Sometimes I m benumbed by many requests from charities that fill the snail mail or electronic mailboxes Still other times I m on the other side trying to publicize a good cause so that some will be encouraged to help out in some manner I suspect many readers of America have found themselves in si