December | The Immaculate Conception
Among many feasts, memorials, and reasons to celebrate throughout Advent and Christmas season, this month is full of famous feasts: St. Nicholas on December 6, St. Lucy on December 13, Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, St. Juan Diego on December 9, and, most obviously, the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas!) on December 25.
We celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. The Holy Innocents, those innocent young lives lost in effort for the secular king to stop Our Lord from being born, are remembered on December 28.
During these celebrations with family, I hope you are filled with peace, joy, and love—what the candles on your Advent wreath represent. While we reflect on birth, conception, family, and saints who certainly stand up for love even if it meant losing their lives, please remember those we lose every day to abortion, suicide, and other instances that unnaturally end another’s life.
I don’t mean to dampen the festivities! What I mean is to think of how to help end the unnecessary loss of life. Let’s think of the Baby Jesus, cradled in St. Mary’s arms, and let’s not stray from gently guiding parents to healthy and empowering options for unexpected children. Let’s not look at young or old pregnant women who may or may not be married as if they are to blame for anything. Instead, let’s look at them with unconditional love, send them kind words, and pray for them and their child.
Let’s follow the example of the Holy Family. St. Joseph had a choice to ignore St. Mary’s pregnancy and marry her anyway or to do what was normal and reveal her to the community to be stoned. Before the angel revealed God’s plan to him, St. Joseph had already chosen to leave St. Mary silently. We know that after the angel spoke to him, he accepted St. Mary as his wife, and for the rest of his life he taught and loved their little family. Pray for fathers to emulate St. Joseph with bold courage and a humble acceptance of life.
Let’s never treat motherhood or fatherhood like it’s a sin, no matter the circumstances. Parenthood is a gift. Life is a gift. This is what we should celebrate this season—this life and the life in eternity we can now achieve through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
December Catholic Feast Days
December 2: St. Bibiana
December 3: St. Francis Xavier
December 4: St. John Damascus
December 6: St. Nicholas
December 7: St. Ambrose
December 8: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Holy Day)
December 9: St. Juan Diego
December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 13: St. Lucy
December 14: St. John of the Cross
December 20: St. Dominic Silos
December 21: St. Peter Canisius
December 24: St. Charbel | Christmas Eve
December 25: Christmas Day (Holy Day)
December 26: Feast of the Holy Family | St. Stephen
December 27: Feast of St. John the Baptist
December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents
December 29: Feast of St. Thomas Becket
December 31: New Year’s Eve
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More December Advent Catholic Resources
December Advent Reflection Questions:
1. What will you do this Advent to wait and prepare yourself for the Lord’s coming?
2. How do you celebrate all twelve days of Christmas?
3. What are your Catholic resolutions for the New Year?
4. What title of St. Mary do you commonly refer to her using and why?
5. What is your birth story? The story of all your children’s arrivals?
6. What will you do to assure that every person has the right to life from conception to natural death?
7. Is there someone in your family, who may have had an unexpected pregnancy or even an abortion, whom you owe an apology to for acting uncharitably? Perhaps someone with different beliefs with whom you can make amends this season?
December’s Catholic Challenges
Commit to an effort to help everyone be respected from conception to natural death.
Celebrate all twelve days of Christmas –> https://catholic-link.org/celebrate-all-twelve-days-of-christmas/
These are two challenges that are opportunities to change lives as well as inspire some creativity.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
A December To-Do List For Catholics
Catholic Books To Read In December
The Road to Bethlehem: Daily Meditations for Advent and Christmas
This Advent Season, let the great and prolific Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori, guide you on a daily prayerful pilgrimage from the start of Advent through the birth of our Lord to the Epiphany. Drawing on Sacred Scripture and his profound saintly counsel, St. Alphonsus takes you into the details of Christ’s birth for prayerful reflection that will have your imagination placing you at the feet of our infant Lord. With meditations on the poverty of our Lord becoming man to Jesus weeping as a baby and lying on straw, St. Alphonsus will bring a humble intensity to your Advent prayer life. The contents of these meditations are marked by both joy for the birth of our Lord and sorrow for what we know He will suffer for our salvation. Few saints have written with such passion, depth, and simplicity on the incarnation and nativity of Christ as Saint Alphonsus Liguori. TAN Books is pleased to present this little work for the first time to join several other TAN works by St. Alphonsus, such as The Glories of Mary, Preparation for Death, and Visits to the Blessed Sacrament. This book, The Road to Bethlehem: Daily Meditations for Advent and Christmas, is taken from the original book entitled The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy or the Mysteries of the Faith.
Christmas in Heaven | Anthony DeStefano
I’ve already given this book to my own children and family members in anticipation of Christmas. This is such a timeless addition to your Christmas traditions. This beautiful little book will give children an unforgettable vision of Heaven while strengthening in them the theological virtue of hope — a hope that will assist them throughout their lives in dealing with fear, grief, pain, and suffering.
The Lady of Guadalupe | Tomie DePaola
Juan Diego’s encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531 is one of the most important events in the history of Mexico and North America. Acclaimed children’s author and artist Tomie dePaola tenderly brings the story to life with words and pictures based on original sources. His beautiful retelling of the miraculous image left on a poor man’s cloak will enchant young and old alike.
Bambinelli Sunday | Amy Welborn
Each year, on the Third Sunday of Advent, children gather with their families in Saint Peter’s Square for “Bambinelli Sunday.” The children bring with them figures of the Christ Child—the Bambinelli—from their family’s Nativity scene. During the Angelus prayer, the pope blesses the children, their families, and the figurines they have brought. Bambinelli Sunday tells the story of one little boy, Alessandro, and what he learns from Baby Jesus about the love that can overcome anything.
Daily Advent Prayers | My MagnifiKid
In homes across the world during Advent, children help their families prepare for Christmas. Nativity scenes, bright candles in the windows, evergreen trees encircled with twinkling lights, and colorfully wrapped gifts speak of fervent expectation. Now, with MagnifiKid! Daily Advent Prayers, each child can prepare the most important present of all, a prayerful heart ready to welcome our Lord Jesus Christ!
Rejoice and Be Glad, A Journey Through Christmas with the Holy Family, Journal | Fr. Mark Toups
Find lasting peace at the manger this Christmas season. In this new installment of the Rejoice! series, Fr. Mark Toups guides you on a transformative journey through the Christmas season, reflecting on significant scriptural events following Jesus’ birth. Drawing inspiration from the Holy Family, shepherds, and magi, you’ll learn to recognize God’s presence and find peace that only he can provide.
More Catholic Books To Read…
Prayer To Learn In December
St. Andrew Christmas Novena
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
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