Which mysteries of the rosary during advent

Includes a beautiful book with lyrics and photos. If you have young children or love arts and crafts, making a Jesse Tree along with Advent Ornaments is for you. It is a hands on way to learn and appreciate Salvation History by exploring the lives of Jesus' ancestors, Old Testament heroes.

Creating a Jesse Tree is a wonderful way of observing Advent. Click here to learn more and share your own Jesse Tree craft projects While observing Advent, count down to Christmas with an Advent Calendar is always exciting. This is a most beloved tradition of children as their anticipation grows as the days draw closer to Christmas. If you have never used an Advent Calendar, you are sure to enjoy the countdown and this encouraging way of observing Advent.

Many varieties are available. Most of these calendars have little doors that open up each day to reveal a Scripture verse or a small treat, but there are many varying shapes and types available. Some have doors or windows decorated with Christmas presents, candles, animals, skaters, figurines, trees, flowers, and holy images. Each opening has a small number on it that is used as a countdown to Christmas.

Adults as well as children enjoy them. They can even become collector's items. We highly recommend www. Be sure to check eBay as well since the variety and variations are not limited to someone purchasing them for a store. We hope you find some of these traditions helpful in making your Advent a time of penance and preparation and not just a time for shopping.

If you know of any other Advent traditions or would like to tell how your family observes this holy season, we would love to hear from you. Click here to read and share Advent traditions Whether you use some or all of these customs to help you prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus at Christmas don't forget to continue praying the daily Rosary.

It will do much good in helping you attain personal holiness. Pray the Rosary everyday especially during this holy season. It is the surest way to prepare your heart and fill you with inner peace. The lonely, widows, and those in prison need the gift of human contact. Love of neighbor calls us to seek out those in the most desperate of circumstances. The anticipatory season of Advent provides the perfect starting point of making ourselves available to others — especially those who are least likely to be loved.

Throughout their years as family Jesus, Mary, and Joseph portrayed the perfect model of family life. In their faithful adherence to their faith life, they modeled the Domestic Church. Every action pointed toward obedience and worship for God. We too are called to let our everyday lives reflect our faith. Faith is not something that is left at the church door. When we introduce our faith in God into our secular activities we become a beacon of light.

Our faithfulness serves to share the Gospel with others. The Fourth Joyful Mystery brings in the sacramental life. As practicing Jews Mary and Joseph modeled a dedication to faith life and all that entails. When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. In following the practices of the Jewish faith, the Holy Family shows us the way in living our own lives.

As practicing Catholics we are all called to take full advantage of the gift of the sacraments. Like Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders, some of these sacraments are a once in a lifetime event.

Others present us with an individual responsibility. While reception of both Holy Communion and Confession are strictly prescribed at least once annually, our obligation to them is more binding if we are true adherents to the Catholic faith.

The Eucharist is available days per year and every practicing Catholic, not bound by mortal sin, is blessed with the opportunity to receive at least weekly, during the obligatory Sunday Mass.

We are also advised to take advantage of the gift of Confession at least once per month. In this way, we are more capable to live our sacramental lives in the awareness of the state of our souls.

A full rosary would walk us through the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. I offer here a meditation that resonates with our times.

I pray it be a blessing to you and to our country. The Birth of Jesus is announced to Mary. As we meditate on this first mystery, let us be mindful of the expectations that filled this annunciation. God would somehow act through this child to liberate humanity. Some of us know that frustration, that disillusionment, that fear. And yet, in the face of bigotry and oppression, we continue to stand on the side of the most vulnerable in our midst—for how shall Yahweh save, if not through our actions on behalf of justice?

Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. Their lives embodied lowliness and vulnerability —a poor young girl facing the responsibilities of single parenthood; an aging woman with no children to care for her and her husband in their declining years. Think of the losses experienced by those who have been disenfranchised in our society—those held back because of racial inequality, xenophobia, gender-bias, taboos against same-gender love and transgender experience, corporate greed, down-sizing, outsourcing, technical advancements, necessary environmental regulation, or even a simple lack of empathy and imagination.

R: And my mouth shall declare Your praise. V: O God, come to my assistance. R: O Lord, make haste to help me. May the Divine Assistance remain always with us.

And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.