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Fourth Sunday of Advent Year A – Prayer of the Faithful

Context These intercessions flow from deep exploration of this Sunday’s readings. For the full theological and scriptural foundation of these themes, especially understanding the story of Ahaz's refusal to receive the sign from God and St. Joseph's receptiveness and to dig deeper into Jesus' lineage, see the Biblical Resources for this Sunday. Celebrant Introduction: Brothers and sisters, as we prepare to welcome Emmanuel—God with us—we...

Fourth Sunday of Advent Year A – Biblical Background

QUICK REFERENCE December 21, 2025 | Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)USCCB Readings Readings: First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6. Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7 Gospel: Matthew Matthew 1:18-24 One-Sentence Theme: Two fathers in the Davidic line—one who refuses God's sign and destroys his son, one who receives God's sign and adopts a son not his own—reveal what makes us capable of receiving Emmanuel....

Feedback From Falling: Why Understanding Your Relationship Patterns Isn’t Enough to Change Them

Why are we still doing the same thing? So you've done the reading. You understand your attachment style, your patterns, why you react the way you do in relationships. You can name it, explain it, trace it back to where it started. So why are you still doing the same thing? Here's what so many therapeutic approaches miss: your relationship patterns aren't stored in your understanding. They're stored in your body. Think about learning to walk....

The Mathematics of Grace: Remembering Provision in Advent Darkness

What do you do when your wallet is empty? When you've shaken out the last coins and there's nothing left? What if that emptiness - that total letting go - is exactly where grace begins? My throat is tight as I write this. There's also a squeezing sensation, that familiar tightness in my abdomen that signals anxiety trying to take root. The problems are piling up - financial pressures mounting, difficulties multiplying - and I can feel despair...

Rejoicing from the Threshold

Third Sunday of Advent: When & Where We Are in the Scripture Sunday, December 14, 2025 | Third Sunday of Advent, Year A The Readings First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:6-10Second Reading: James 5:7-10Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11 This Sunday - Gaudete Sunday, "Rejoice Sunday" - stands as the rose-colored candle in our Advent wreath, a flicker of joy in the midst of purple penitence. But what kind of joy? What kind of...

Second Sunday of Advent (Year A) – Free Liturgical Resources

QUICK REFERENCE Date: December 7, 2025Liturgical Season: Second Sunday of Advent, Year AReadings: Isaiah 11:1-10 | Psalm 72 | Romans 15:4-9 | Matthew 3:1-12Theme: Baptism calls us out of hiding to inhabit the impossible—a world where God's breath fills everything and no one has to pay the cost anymore. WHERE ARE WE? In the Foreground: Isaiah's Impossible Vision Wolf with lamb. Baby at the cobra's den. The lion eating straw like an ox....

Second Sunday of Advent (Year A) – Biblical Background

QUICK REFERENCE Date: December 7, 2025 Liturgical Season: Second Sunday of Advent, Year A Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10 | Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 | Romans 15:4-9 | Matthew 3:1-12 One-Sentence Theme: Baptism calls us out of hiding to believe the impossible—that we can inhabit a realm where no one has to pay the cost anymore, where God's breath fills everything, and death itself is undone. THE READINGS IN CONTEXT First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10...

Returning to the River: A Baptismal Meditation

A guided body prayer for post-Communion reflection. Second Sunday of Advent (Year A) - Experience CONTEXT & BACKGROUND This meditation emerges from today's Gospel (Matthew 3:1-12), where John baptizes in the Jordan River, and from the deeper mystery of what baptism means in light of Isaiah's peaceable kingdom and Paul's call not to give up hoping for the impossible. The Biblical Foundation: In the Biblical Background for this Sunday, we...

Second Sunday of Advent (Year A) – Prayer of the Faithful

Context: These intercessions flow from the Sunday's deep exploration of baptism as present tense reality, the peaceable kingdom as the world we're baptized into, and the call to stop hiding behind fig leaves and religious performance. For the full theological and scriptural foundation of these themes, see the Biblical Background. To experience your baptism in an embodied, prayerful way, explore the Post-Communion meditation: Returning to the...

The Threefold Coming: First Sunday of Advent – Year A

Entering the Season of Threefold Coming Advent begins. But not as our culture often imagines it - not primarily as a countdown to Christmas, not as premature celebration with nativity scenes and festive cheer. The Church invites us into something older, deeper, and far more urgent. Historically, Advent emerged in the 4th-6th centuries as a penitential season, sometimes lasting as long as Lent - a time of fasting, prayer, and preparation. Not...