As Advent begins, moments of inner preparation are important. Give yourself enough undistracted time to focus on how these Advent readings speak to your heart. Light a candle (perhaps the Advent wreath).

We as a society have been bombarded by commercials warning us we’re already late with our Christmas shopping. For some, their social calendars are filling up beyond what’s sane to manage.

Some people love surprises. Others do everything in their power to organize their lives against the unexpected. If your idea of a great party is having guests leap out from behind the furniture when you arrive home to a dark house, then maybe you’ll love the end of the world, too.

One of modern American life’s rites of passage is the moment when a teenager is issued a driver’s license. For the teen it becomes the ultimate symbol of freedom, of having grown up, of independence from the family.

A lot of people report having dreams where they show up at a high school or college class for the first time all semester only to find out it’s time for their final exam

As we begin the season of Advent, we pray for a deeper appreciation of Christ coming into the world.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Every year the readings for the First Sunday of Advent look ahead to the coming of the Lord at the end of time, as the church begins the season of looking for the coming of the Lord at his birth

Our God will come openly; our God will come and will not keep silent. The first coming of Christ the Lord, God’s Son and our God, was in obscurity; the second will be in the sight of the whole world. —Saint Augustine