Advent Preparation

Join us in making the last 9 days of Advent extra-special by praying the O Antiphons with us, starting tomorrow. Here is a beautiful introduction:

The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent. We hear them also in the Alleluia verses of the Masses in the final days of the Advent season. Join us in this ancient way of intensifying our preparation for Christmas at: visit.pauline.org/ifollowlight.

(You can also subscribe and receive an email each day linking to the newest O Antiphon.)

A Heart to Heart with Pope Francis: Open the Doors to Jesus! the newest stand-alone digital magazine from Pauline Books & Media became available yesterday to the readers of our Discover Hope newsletter (you can sign up here if you don’t already get this fantastic weekly inspiration); today it’s up all over the Pauline website. As the editor, it was really fun to:

pick an important homily by Pope Francis that stands on its own but is a perfect lead-in to Advent
develop each of the Pope’s recommendations in separate articles (okay, I wrote one article, but I got noted author Sister Mary Lea Hill, FSP (www.twitter.com/crabbymystic) and Deacon Pedro Guevara-Mann of Salt + Light fame, who both did a tremendous job exploring the words of Pope Francis)
be inspired to write a follow-up to Deacon Pedro’s great article, to create a short but fairly complete guide to “Opening the Bible for the First Time.”

A Heart to Heart with Pope Francis: Open the Doors to Jesus is free online and can also be printed out. I hope it helps all of us get our Advent 2014 off to a great start–whether we want to focus on prayer, the Eucharist, or the Bible as our “Advent doorway” to a closer following of Jesus. If, as you take the opportunity to read it and share it with loved ones, something strikes you in the magazine, I’d love to hear your feedback.