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Join Lisa Hendey for a weekly series designed to prepare you to celebrate Advent this year.


I invite you to join me for a moment of daily prayer around the Advent wreath beginning on Sunday, November 27 at 5 pm ET/2 pm PT. I’ll be live on my Facebook profile and sharing the video each day at Youtube and Instagram as well. We’ll be praying with my new Advent devotional 5 Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath. Be sure to download my FREE companion resources (Praying with the Saints and Advent Reflections for Families with Children) at Ave Maria Press. I can’t wait to pray with you this Advent season! 

 

For a variety of reasons, some of us may find ourselves praying “solo” around our Advent wreaths this season. Even those of us who live in families may find ourselves lighting our candles by ourselves. Being married to a doctor who works a variety of weird shifts in the ER, it’s not unusual for me to be at home at night by myself. I’ll admit to sometimes savoring this time to linger with God just a bit longer than if Greg and I were praying together.

You may be single. You may live with people whose schedule varies from yours. Or you may be the only person in your household who is interested in devotional prayer. Regardless of the reason you find yourself praying alone, I hope you won’t avoid the beauty of praying with your Advent wreath because you feel isolated. The holiday season can be challenging for all of us, but especially for those who journey to Christmas in loneliness or despair.

 

5-Minute Prayers around the Advent Wreath

 

In a few weeks, I will share about how we might build “community” around our Advent wreaths. But for today, I simply wanted to offer a perspective on how praying solo with our wreaths might bless us in new ways. Even if you traditionally pray with others, perhaps consider sitting with your wreath on your own a few times this season.

Here are a few thoughts about praying on your own with your Advent wreath:

You are never “alone.” 

In the closing words of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). I often cling to this passage of scripture and imagine Jesus saying it to me personally when spiritual desolation sets in. When we gather close to God in prayer, we unite ourselves not only with our Heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally, but also with the faithful of our world. A prayer app I’ve used in the past shows an image of the globe when I log in to pray. Around the globe, small pinpricks of light show other users of the app praying with me. What a gift! A cloistered nun I once met reminded me that she and her sisters rise in the middle of the night hours to pray joyfully, powering through their weariness so that those most in need of prayer will be lifted. Remember, even if you sit alone at your wreath, you are never on your own.

 

Carry the intentions of others.

One way to embrace others into your prayer time even if you sit alone at your wreath is to remember others who have asked for your prayers. A good friend recently gifted me a Sleeping St. Joseph. Beneath the silent, slumbering figure is my intention journal, where I jot the names of those who have asked for my prayers. This year, I plan to move St. Joseph near my wreath for my Advent prayer time so that those intentions will be even closer to me as I pray. I’m also planning to place two ribbons on my wreath this year for Mom and Daddy, who are now home with God. This tangible little reminder will bring me close to the two people who first taught me about the gift of an Advent wreath.

 

Embrace it—and join me!

Because I know so many of us pray solo during Advent, I am committing to my daily time of Advent prayer online. If you prefer to pray in the company of others, I hope you will join me on my Facebook profile each day at 5 pm Eastern (2 pm Pacific) as I light my candles and pray with 5-Minute Prayers Around the Advent Wreath. I’m hoping that some folks who don’t traditionally pray with a wreath might simply wander along and join us. If you cannot be with me live, I’ll be sharing my daily video (which I hope to keep to five minutes). I ask that you keep this initiative in prayer, that God might touch the hearts of all of us, but especially those who feel sad or alone this holiday season.

 

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Click to tweet:
Remember, even if you sit alone at your wreath, you are never on your own. #catholicmom

 

A question for you: How do you feel about praying alone around your Advent wreath?

 

2022 Lisa Advent series 3


Copyright 2022 Lisa M. Hendey
Images: Ave Maria Press
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