Faith At Home
The Christmas Anticipation Prayer (Novena to St. Andrew)
Advent is a time of getting ready! We are all busy preparing for the celebration of Christmas, but the Church gives us a special way to ready our hearts for the birth of the Messiah. It’s called the Novena to St. Andrew and traditionally, it’s recited 15 times per day from the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30) to Christmas Day for a special intention of your choice. Even if you are one day late, you can still incorporate this beautiful tradition in your family!
Why is this special novena to St. Andrew? When the crowd following Jesus had become hungry, Jesus asked his disciples to feed them. Most of them stared in disbelief, but St. Andrew went and found the boy with the loaves and fishes and presented him to Jesus, allowing for the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. Because of this, Catholics pray to St. Andrew whenever they experience a shortage of some sort. This Advent, join in on the Novena to St. Andrew and allow your heart to be filled to the brim this Christmas! Here is the prayer: Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
Put out your shoes to celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas, the father of the worldwide Santa Clause tradition, is celebrated on December 6th within the Catholic Church. He was a Bishop in the early church -- a bishop whose radical generosity changed people’s lives. The story goes that St. Nicholas heard of an impoverished family who was in trouble. He snuck into their house and delivered gold coins into the stockings that were hanging to dry by the fireplace to alleviate their need. To remember St. Nicholas and model his generosity for those around us, children can put out their shoes or stockings on December 5th, the night before his feast day. St. Nicholas has been known to leave all types of goodies or small gifts for children in their shoes, but most notably, he leaves gold coins as a sign that he has been there. St. Nicholas reminds us that we give gifts because we have been given the greatest gift -- Christ Jesus. St. Nicholas, pray for us!