Advent is a Comin'
Don't panic, but you've only got 20 days
First off, you should go listen to today’s one clip from The Katie McGrady Show on the podcast feed. It’s the story of how I learned a pretty essential lesson in the midst of all the travel nonsense from this past weekend.
Over the weekend, my youngest daughter leaned over in the middle of Mass, showed me a picture in her OSV Kid’s Magazine of an advent wreath, and whisper-shouted, “Do we have one of these?”
“Yes,” I quickly replied.
“Where is it?” she inquired
“In the attic,” I confidently said, hoping it was true.
“We should take it down soon,” she said, returning back to her magazine and Mass-time squirming.
She isn’t wrong. I should take the Advent wreath down, and the inevitably attic-melted candles, sooner rather than later. Firstly, because I’ll be heading to Australia on the First Sunday of Advent this year, and I want all the liturgical living stuff prepped and ready before I go (and return) in that first week of Advent. But also because Advent isn’t that far off.
It’s just 20 days away, and while that might seem like 3 whole weeks, it’ll fly by, for you and for me. So, I figured a small roundup of some favorite resources (including a few I’ve written) might be helpful.
First off, here’s my handy dandy Advent & Christmas devotional for teens and young adults that, over the years, has been used by classrooms, youth groups, parishes, and more. It’s less than $3, and if you use code Katie15, only $2.51. I don’t think you can even get a McDonald’s Coke for that cheap these days.
My husband and I wrote this devotional when we were teachers and youth ministers, because it’s what we knew we would like to use in our classroom every day. We hear every year from folks who use this to spark discussions at the dinner table, to lead to deeper personal prayer (we have “stretch challenges” for every day), and to just give young people a chance to just become more invested in the season of Advent.
This year, I was honored to write the Bayard Family Advent Devotional, complete with reflections on Scripture and daily family activities and discussion questions.
Bayard also has some amazing resources for parishes and schools to buy in bulk, including placemats and table decorations. Our school is giving a copy to every family to help spark school-wide prayer and conversations that (hopefully) flow back from home into convos among students and classrooms at school.
Lastly, Hallow and Ave Maria Press have partnered to present an absolutely gorgeous new printing of one of my favorite books, Reed of God by Caryll Houselander for the Pray25 Advent challenge on the Hallow app.
More info will come out soon about Hallow’s Pray25 challenge (I’ll have a deep dive interview about the entire challenge on The Katie McGrady Show on November 19), but trust me when I say, it is a can’t miss series with some amazing folks guiding us through the season.
And last but not least, I’ve got an Advent season of Ave Explores starting November 19th exploring the remarkable new Visio Divina book, Behold the Wonder. We’re going to dive into the images from within the book with some incredible folks, like Matt Maher and Rachel Bulman and Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe. It’s a low lift for you — just a weekly podcast listen and a lovely book to pray with.
Don’t panic. Just get ready. Advent is a joy, but it’s coming quick. Hopefully some of these resources help.