There’s a commercial that I see everywhere lately. A little girl and her dad are working on a volcano for her science fair. But something goes wrong and at the last minute the volcano doesn’t explode (as a fellow procrastinator, I feel her pain). Her dad’s solution: a $1,000 flat screen television! She can just Read more
As Christians around the world prepare during Advent to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, much of the world is at war and preparing for more war – more bombs, more drones, more boots on the ground. From the drug cartel war in Mexico, to the civil war in South Sudan, to the Read more
Although the four weeks of Advent focus on waiting for Christmas, the Church does not just sit around and wait for the main event. It celebrates plenty of major feasts with lots of customs, traditions, and even special foods during the month of December. St. Nicholas Early in the Advent season, Dec. 6, the Church Read more
The arrival of Advent this year is overshadowed by the world’s violence. Distant events press in. A week ago, a young Jewish boy from a town near mine, who was studying and volunteering in Israel, was killed by a Palestinian gunman in the West Bank after he had brought food to Israeli soldiers. I wrote Read more
In a season filled with red Santa suits and green Christmas trees, the purple and pink candles of the Advent wreath can seem incongruous with many Catholic families’ usual Christmas decorations. The modern Advent wreath, created in 19th-century Germany by Johann Hinrich Wichern, featured red and white candles. While these colors may be more in Read more
Advent is the story of Jesus’ birth and the beginning of Christianity; but if we also see the readings as parable, they’ll become guidance for our own journey. Step by step they’ll bring us closer to the light that cannot be held in words. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent to a Read more
In Advent 2014, more than 50,000 people participated and 17,000 pictures were posted. In 2015, AdventWord
As Christians we are often heard complaining about the ‘commercialisation’ of Christmas. And yet most of us would admit that, despite the frenetic pull towards consumerism, there is also an underlying ‘good will’ effect at this time of year which is mindful of those less well-off and puts a human face on poverty. There will Read more
We have begun the Season of Advent in the year of Our Lord 2013, and we are still waiting. What are we waiting for, and why? The Lord has come; the Lord has redeemed us on the Cross; so why do we begin again this annual cycle of reading the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Read more
A large Advent calendar is to be erected in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter in December. Each day a giant lever will open individual doors to the 12m-high calendar at Silo Park to reveal a Kiwi Christmas scene. Local businesses, artists such as Dick Frizzell and school children are contributing to the project. The Advent calendar will Read more