Imagine your family an image of God and your home a taste of heaven…Get the free workshop and flowchart today!
Search
Close this search box.

Faith Life TOOLS

  • In “Why the Magnificat is the Perfect Prayer for Advent” (OSV News), Kenneth Craycraft asserts that Mary proclaimed the words in her Magnificat when she was “newly pregnant.” Thus, the “commencement of Advent is the perfect time for meditating on Our Lady’s words” as we prepare for the birth of Our Lord.
  • In “How Not to ‘Wait’ for Christmas” (Arlington Catholic Herald), Soren reflects on how to avoid the traps. He quotes a friend, “The greatest folly with the season of Advent is that we reduce it to a page-a-day (chocolate-a-day?) countdown calendar to Christmas.” 
  • In “The Reed of God (Advent Series – Part I)” (Abiding Hearts podcast), Michelle Benzinger spoke about shifting from a posture of “I have to make Christmas happen” to allowing Advent to “unfold” and co-creating “this season with the Holy Spirit, to have him come closer.” 
  • In “Why Waiting is so Good for Us” (Aleteia), Sr. Maria Frassati writes, “In the season of Advent, we become more alive to the reality that we are people in a state of waiting. Longing is more accurate.”
  • In his essay “Discover the Eucharist at Bethlehem” (Our Sunday Visitor), Fr. Patrick Briscoe quotes Pope Benedict XVI, “Let us enter into the mystery of Christmas, now approaching, through the ‘door’ of the Eucharist.”  
  •  It’s easy to forget that Advent is a penitential season. In “Opening the Word: The Soul Seeks the Word,” Fr. Joshua Whitfield (Our Sunday Visitor) writes, “It’s a reminder that, as Christians, our first task is penitential…we should first welcome Christ into our hearts, which is a matter of repentance, the forgiveness of our sins.”  

  • In “6 Foolproof Family Advent Ideas for Failures Like Me” (Aleteia), Tom Hoopes offers some good food for thought for families. Idea #4 – “Make an Advent Mercy Jar” – is very much in keeping with Level 5 of a Trinity House – Hospitality & Service. 

  • In “What Are the Three Comings of Christ?” (Aleteia), Philip Kosloski helps us to see St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s observation of Christ’s threefold coming.
  • In Soren’s “How Not to ‘Wait’ for Christmas” (The Arlington Catholic Herald), he writes, “This Advent is about rejoicing in the time we have now to prepare for the radical new life which will be ours when the Son of God joins us in our humanity.”   
  • To help prepare for Gaudete Sunday, we recommend reading these Sunday Mass readings and “Opening the Word: Gaudete Sunday and a Reason to Rejoice” (Our Sunday Visitor) by Catherine Cavadini.
  • “Are you tired yet?” asks Elizabeth Foss in “Traveling the Holy Way” (The Arlington Catholic Herald). It is a timely end-of-Advent reflection on our need to allow Jesus to revive us with his joy.
  • In “Dad’s Christmas Dilemma,” (The Arlington Catholic Herald), Soren reflects on how his dad led an annual Christmas tradition that invited his family beneath the “surface” and into the spiritual core of Christmas. Each dad (and mom), Soren argues, can do so much more at Christmas than simply hovering at the surface.
  • In Fall 2021, we enjoyed a delightful visit with Aleteia Editor-in-Chief Fr. Patrick Briscoe, O.P., at Trinity House Cafe. His “5 Ways to Keep Peace This Christmas (That Actually Work!)” is definitely worth your time. His #1 way is “prioritize your personal prayer.” Amen to that!

  • In “Getting to ‘Yes’ this Advent,” Soren suggests 7 “yeses” to make the most of this Advent.
  • “Consider our homes as sanctuaries for souls,” writes Elizabeth Foss in
    “Don’t Give Up Christmas” (The Arlington Catholic Herald).
  • Print up these “Advent Reflections from the Women Doctors of the Church” (Our Sunday Visitor) as an inspiring Advent resource.
  • “4 Words to Guide Your Advent” (Aleteia) by Fr. Robert McTeigue offers a helpful set of images to carry with us in the weeks before Christmas. 
  • From carols to lessons to video reflections, and more, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Advent resources page is a helpful tool.
  • In “Making the Family Spiritual Pilgrims (Virtually)” (Crux), Ken Balbuena at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. offers 5 ways the Shrine can be a resource for your family this Thanksgiving and Advent.
  • In “Christ is Coming: Are We Ready?” (Our Sunday Visitor), Joe Grabowski points us to Mary: “Advent provides us with an opportunity to make room in our lives for the choice of Mary and to set aside, at least for a time, that of Martha… This season is about preparing to welcome him, clearing out our spiritual homes and bestowing them fittingly so that, when he comes, we can just listen to him, learn from him.”

Yes, I’d like access to the free Heaven in Your Home Workshop, Letters & Gatherings with:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Yes, I’d like access to the free Heaven in Your Home Workshop, Letters & Gatherings with:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Please let me know when the Trinity House Community Groups model is launched!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.