Food for Thought

Refocusing on prayer and spiritual practices during Advent need not be complex or overwhelming.

Nov 25, 2016

Refocusing on prayer and spiritual practices during Advent need not be complex or overwhelming. One simple exercise is to read a story from the life of a saint each day during Advent, during breakfast or before going to bed.

During the first week of Advent, the church celebrates the feast days of saints like St. Stephen the Younger, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Andrew, St. Francis Xavier. While their lives may not directly be tied to Advent in an obvious way, these were men and women who dedicated their lives to "preparing the way of the Lord."

St. Stephen the Younger, whose feast day is Nov. 28, was a monk who lived in the eighth century and was martyred for speaking against iconoclasm, the destruction of religious images and icons. The same day is also the feast of St. Catherine Laboure, a French Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul who is known best for beginning the devotion to the Miraculous Medal, after a series of visions of Mary in 1831.

The church looks to the saints as models of holiness who help the faithful today "be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come" (Mt 24:44).