Three Books to Buy Before Advent

Barb Szyszkiewicz introduces three must-reads to boost your family's faith and your own as the new liturgical year approaches.

As you plan your prayer routine and family celebrations for Advent and beyond, you'll greatly benefit from three new Catholic resources. I'm looking forward to using them on my own and with my family in the new liturgical year.

Festive Faith: Catholic Celebrations Through the Year and Around the World

by Steffani Aquila
Publisher: Ave Maria Press

When my children were young, I purchased a few books about living the liturgical year as a family. Those were great — until my children were not so young. Steffani Aquila widens the liturgical-living focus in Festive Faith so readers can find ideas for carrying on our rich Catholic traditions at home and in our parish communities. In this book, you'll find a wealth of ideas for seasonal or feast-day celebrations, ideas you can adapt to families of different ages and sizes and to parishes large and small.

For every feast day, holiday, or season included in this book, Aquila includes the story behind the tradition, a description of the tradition itself, and several ideas for carrying on these customs with your parish or family. Finally, some entries include an extra section, "A Living Tradition," in which various contributing writers share their own reflections on celebrations special to them.

Highly recommended for families, Catholic schools, and parish leaders!

2025: A Book of Grace-Filled Days

by Vinita Hampton Wrights
Publisher: Loyola Press

Unlike many daily devotionals that begin on January 1, 2025: A Book of Grace-Filled Days follows the liturgical year. The first entry is dated December 1, the First Sunday of Advent. So you won't need to wait until January to start praying with this book — and you won't want to wait, I promise! It also does include all of December 2025, for a total of 13 months of daily reflections.

In this lovely book, you'll find reflections to jumpstart your morning prayer or to enjoy during a prayer break during the day (I'm thinking this will be a great way to collect myself for the afternoon when I return to my office after lunch!). The daily reflections include a brief Scripture passage and a short paragraph offering food for thought, prayer, or even journaling. This would be an excellent Christmas gift!

Pray with Us: A Saint for Every Day

by Belinda Terro Mooney
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor

Belinda Terro Mooney's new book invites readers to learn about and pray with 365 saints (including a few blesseds). I love that we're reminded of the focus of each month (January: The Month of the Holy Name of Jesus, and so on).

Of course, I went looking through Pray with Us for my favorite saints on their feast-days, and in the process I discovered a new-to-me saint who's my birthday patron. There's a handy index by date in the back, too.

Pray with Us is an excellent book to use on your own or with your family during your daily prayer time. This book is organized according to the calendar year, but there's no reason you can't jump right to December and begin on the First Sunday of Advent to pray for the intercession of these fascinating saints.

Copyright 2024 Barb Szyszkiewicz
Images: Canva
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