Dear parishioners – young and old!

We begin a new year in the Church calendar with Advent with an invitation to wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus. We are encouraged to strip away distractions and simplify our lives, in order to re-focus our life lens on what is truly the “reason for the season”. Advent is an opportunity to create space to grow our faith and give some time to God, amidst the excitement of our Christmas preparations!

Below are some activities and prayer ideas that you may find useful to make use of, individually or with those in your household, during this season of Advent and, then, onto Christmas.

The Nativity of our Lord is a sure sign of HOPE, which cuts through the darkness of this world and reminds us of his light and great love. May you enjoy preparing as a family and please don’t forget to think of those living near you, who may need YOU to be the hands and the loving heart of the new-born Jesus to them, by some simple act of kindness!

Sophie Sullivan
Catechetical Co-ordinator

ADVENT RESOURCES
CHRISTMAS RESOURCES
RESOURCES FOR ADULTS

Advent Resources

General Resources

  • About Catholics has some lovely ideas of marking Advent
  • Loyola Press have a webpage dedicated to some resources for you and your family to avail of during Advent
  • Use these suggested services from The God who Speaks to make each Sunday of Advent special at home

Advent Wreath

Advent Calendars

    • CAFOD have produced a family Advent calendar
    • Save the environment with this Green Advent Calendar (PDF) from the Jesuit and Friends magazine.
    • Our very own Advent calendar shows 28 Ways to Prepare for Christmas
    • You may even wish to buy your Advent calendar from our very own parish repository!

Jesse Tree

  • The Jesse tree is a visual way of following Jesus Christ’s family tree back to it’s Old Testament origins. This resource from Lo and Behold provides you with a bible reflection for each day of Advent.
  • If you are one for putting your tree up early, why not decorate it differently this Advent (before adding all the Christmas decor!) with a picture each day to represent one of the bible stories.

Advent Prayer Corner

During Advent, consider setting up a small space, set aside at home to help the whole family prepare for Christmas. Your prayer space could have a crib, an advent wreath or candle, some pictures or symbols of our faith, photographs of your family and/or a few cushions. You may want to incorporate a homemade Jesse Tree.

You can use it very simply. Family members could use it as a space for a short prayer as they pass by. Or, for a few minutes before bedtime, you could gather to light the candle and offer some intercessions e.g. “God bless…..”. It may be the place you gather to light the Advent wreath candles on Sundays. Enjoy creating a focal point, amidst the excitement of this time of year!

Christmas Resources

Nativity Scene craft

  • This is a lovely family activity which doesn’t require lots of materials. The site includes free templates, which you can download and print out, with all the instructions.
  • What about creating a peg doll nativity scene, using this resource from Catholic Icing?
  • Fancy drawing the nativity scene for yourself. Have a go using this easy tutorial

Preparing and Blessing our Nativity Scene

Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter, Admirable Signum 2019, said: “I wish to encourage the beautiful tradition of preparing the nativity scene in the days before Christmas”.

As a family, ask yourselves:

  • What will we use and where will we place our nativity scene? In a prayer space? By the tree? At the table? In our heart?
  • What has your journey to the crib been like this year? Full of fears and worries? What joys have there been? What do we need to bring forward for Jesus to heal? What do we need to give thanks for?

You could then say this special blessing of the crib together –

“God of all creation, in our need you sent your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, to be our Saviour, who brings peace and joy. Lord, bless all who gaze upon this crib. As we recall his humble birth, may we always raise our thoughts to him, our Emmanuel, who lives and reigns for ever. Amen.”

See the Catholic Culture website for a fuller family prayer time around the crib

Grace at the Christmas Meal

In “Laudato Si”, Pope Francis says: “We stop and give thanks to God before and after meals. I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom”

Here is a simple prayer you could say at Christmas Dinner:

“Love brought Jesus to the stable and love brings us around this table. As we give thanks for the gift of this meal, and of each other, may this day be filled with joy, prayer and gratitude. Amen.”

Why not also place the Christ-child, Jesus, at the centre of the table as you eat and give thanks for all that you have received?

A Christmas Tree Blessing

As a family, you can gather round your Christmas Tree to recite this simple blessing –

Lord our God,
we praise you for the light of creation:
the sun, the moon, and the stars of the night.
We praise you for the light of Israel:
the Law, the prophets, and the wisdom of the Scriptures.
We praise you for Jesus Christ, your Son:
he is Emmanuel, God-with-us, the Prince of Peace,
who fills us with the wonder of your love.

Lord God,
let your blessing come upon us
as we illumine this tree.
May the light and cheer it gives
be a sign of the joy that fills our hearts.
May all who delight in this tree
come to the knowledge and joy of salvation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

R/. Amen.

The Star

The movie The Star is a lovely animated story which tells the story of Christmas through the eyes of the animals there. The movie itself can be purchased from many outlets and online shopping sites, like Amazon. The “National Conference for Catechetical Leadership” have produced a lovely PDF resource which you could use at home, alongside the movie.

Resources for Adults

There are a number of great Catholic resources you can download for free, such as an app on your phone or other device. Here are some of the best:

  • Best Advent Ever – from an American organisation called “Dynamic Catholic” – they have developed a very nice annual series of daily reflections for Advent, which you have to sign up to, but is free, and then the reflections gets emailed to you every day of Advent. Just click on the link and then click on the yellow “sign me up!” box. It’s that easy!
  • Bishop Barron’s Advent Gospel Reflections: sign up to receive a short reflection from Bishop Barron in your inbox each morning about that day’s Gospel reading.
  • The Hallow prayer app is an excellent resource with music and prayers to follow all through Advent and Christmas and beyond! Hallow also have a blog of Advent prayers for 2022
  • Advent Meditations with the Holy Family – This series, called “Rejoice'”, is offered by Ascension Press and will be an excellent way of entering into this season.
  • The God Who Speaks also offers a faith sharing course for adults, who may wish to journey through this season with others
  • Follow our own parish Christmas Octave page to help you make the most of the Christmas season with prayers, bible readings and reflections
  • Crib Reflections: Our parish Catechetical Co-ordinator writes crib-inspired reflections for the days leading up to Christmas Day.
  • Fancy a sing song this Christmas? Check out our parish carols sheet – enjoy!