Day 1: Sunday 1 December 2024

We are delighted to welcome you to this year’s digital Advent Calendar! 

Advent marks the beginning of the new calendar year for Christians.  The digital Advent calendar offers a distinctive and spiritually enriching way to journey through this holy season.  Based on the Jubilee Year’s theme of #Hope, the 2024 calendar offers prayers and resources designed to guide individuals, families and faith communities to reflect on the hope that Christ brings to the world, while also preparing for the upcoming Holy Jubilee Year in 2025.

Advent message from Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe

 

Season of Advent

Today is the First Sunday of Advent.  Advent is the four-week season before Christmas during which we prepare for the coming of Christ.  The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming”.  The season of Advent is a time of waiting, conversion and of hope, which has a twofold character as:

  • A time of preparation for the Solemnities of the Christmas season, in which the first coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered; and,
  • A time when – by remembrance of this – our minds and hearts look forward to the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time.

For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.

Our digital Advent calendar is a helpful resource for our ‘journey’ towards Christmas.  Each day, by clicking on a virtual door, we are inviting you to take a few minutes to avail of our resources to rediscover the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

Advent Prayers

Our Prayer Intention for the Day to Pray Together 

May this season of Advent be a time of growth in faith
for all Christ’s followers, and may the Church,
through her teaching and her compassion,
point the way to the Saviour.
We ask this though Christ, Our Lord.
Amen

An Advent Prayer
Father, in the wilderness of the Jordan,
you sent a messenger to prepare people’s hearts
for the coming of your Son.
Help me to hear his words and repent of my sins,
so that I may clearly see the way to walk,
the truth to speak,
and the life to live for him,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen

Kids’ Corner!

Children’s Prayer on first Sunday of Advent
Let us ask our Father in heaven to fill our hearts with grace. On the First Sunday of Advent, we light THE CANDLE OF HOPE.  We have hope because God is ever faithful and will keep the promises made to us. Our HOPE comes from God.

To print: click on the link below to open a new page, then select “print”

Kids Advent Calendar to color in