A Blessed Advent

[CyrilSebastian]

John the Baptist's message offered hope to certain people. When he called people to change,     
the people who lived nightmares of oppression and exclusion heard an invitation to dream of something better.   
 
 

[CyrilSebastian]

John the Baptist was preparing people for the coming of the Messiah, baptizing them in water and preaching to them.   
 
 

[CyrilSebastian]

The Introit for Gaudette Sunday is taken from Philippians 4: 4,5: Gaudette in Domino semper (Rejoice in the Lord always.)

[CyrilSebastian]

                                  Isaiah Chapter 40: Verse 3-4                   
                                  A voice cries, 'Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh.     
                                  Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands.   
                                  Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled,   
                                  every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain.'

[CyrilSebastian]

The Late Advent Weekdays of December 17 to 24 mark the singing of the Great O Antiphons.

[CyrilSebastian]

Advent is a season of waiting. A time of remembering Christ's first coming.   
It can be a season filled with joy and hope.

[eschator83]

What a wonderful inspiration Therese was, and is, as well as so many others here.  Her words share love and faith so powerfully and poignantly, they themselves have a mystical power.  They urged me into my cellar to find The Mystical City of God, which sadly hasn't seen fresh air in years.  I am at this moment holding both an abridged version by Rev George Blatter and the first book of the full version by Fiscar Marison.  I pray for continued motivation to keep reading, and wish you all an inspired Advent.

[CyrilSebastian]

The Council of Tours (567) mentions an Advent season.

[CyrilSebastian]

For the last eight days before Christmas, the Gospels are from the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke.

[CyrilSebastian]

Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year. 
Advent was chosen to begin the year as representative of the time in history that Christ was not known to us.

[CyrilSebastian]

                 The hymn Creator of the Stars of Night would make a wonderful Advent prayer.     
                  The hymn speaks of a Savior to set the people free.         
                    It is also mentioned that when the Lord Jesus came, he came not in splendor bright.

I can't say that I am familiar with that hymn, CyrilSebastian.  Is it an old hymn or a new one?

     
The hymn Creator of the Stars of Night by J. M. Neale, in the first edition of the Hymnal Noted, 1852

[CyrilSebastian]

Advent was in existence from about 480 with the introduction of a novelty that ordered     
monks to fast every day in December until Christmas.   
 
 

[CyrilSebastian]

The Jesse Tree is a genealogical tree in which the lineage of Christ is represented in sculpture and decorative art.   
It is a way of preparing for Advent by journeying through the stories of Jesus's family tree.   
 
 

[CyrilSebastian]

The Jesse Tree tradition is rooted in The Book of Isaiah Chapter 11 Verse 1:   
A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.     
 
Jesse was the father of David, King of Israel.

[CyrilSebastian]

Using a tree of your choice you can place an ornament on the Jesse Tree each day of Advent 
and trace the story of Jesus from creation to his birth.   
 
 

[CyrilSebastian]

Using a tree of your choice you can place an ornament on the Jesse Tree each day of Advent   
and trace the story of Jesus from creation to his birth.