{"id":42623,"date":"2013-12-02T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T14:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=42623"},"modified":"2013-12-02T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T14:54:27","slug":"beginning-advent-with-a-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/beginning-advent-with-a-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginning Advent With A Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, the number of days in this holiday season are the shortest it possibly can be. 27 days<\/strong>. Just 27 days separate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Perhaps, As a result this begins to explain how and why retailers have combated the unusually short shopping window by putting out Christmas merchandise even earlier<\/em> than normal.<\/p>\n

Completely unrelated to the state of my shopping list, this year it seems as though December and the First Week of Advent have completely crept up on my feeling overwhelmed and unfocused.<\/p>\n

There’s a certain sense of frenzy that comes with the end-of-the-year. Not that it’s all bad. There’s the excitement of preparing for family who visits, holiday parties to catch up with long time friends and a promises of holiday vacations to exotic places. There’s nothing wrong with that, being busy is just simply a part of life. However, it’s so easy to get caught up in the sales, specials and Christmas music on the radio starting after Halloween that in a blink of an eye Advent and Christmas have come and gone.<\/p>\n

In some ways Lent seems so much easier <\/em>when it becomes to preparing ourselves. There is a tradition of fasting, penance and creating personal challenges to center our prayer lives on the upcoming death and resurrection of Jesus. But what about Advent? How can we make Advent equally spiritually significant?<\/p>\n

As I was thinking about the upcoming season and how I wanted to make it something special, I’ve been pulled back to this simple idea of how Advent should be an opportunity to transform us from the inside out. I know the aspects of my faith that need a little work and I’ve come up with a way to do something extra that will be the just the beginning of the journey.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of preparing ourselves for Advent and Christmas, each contributor will include an Advent challenge in their post. These are an opportunity to further prepare for the Christmas celebration. Feel free to let us know if you like them or have other suggestions for Advent challenges – we’d love to hear them!<\/p>\n

\"Advent\"Today’s Advent Challenge. <\/strong>As you prepare your heart and your table for the arrival of Christ Jesus, keep in mind the words we heard in yesterday’s Gospel reading.<\/p>\n

“Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.\u201d<\/em> Mt 24:42-44<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, the number of days in this holiday season are the shortest it possibly can be. 27 days. Just 27 days separate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Perhaps, As a result this begins to explain how and why retailers have combated the unusually short shopping window by putting out Christmas merchandise even earlier than normal. Completely… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,90],"tags":[384,1214,383,1270],"class_list":{"0":"post-42623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-faith-blog","8":"tag-advent","9":"tag-advent-challenge","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-christmas-season","12":"entry","13":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":189519,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/grinch-brain\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":0},"title":"When Christmas Brings Out Your Inner Grinch","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"December 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to a major retailer to pick up a couple last minute gifts, when I noticed that a big sign on their front door. It read, \"OPEN 24 HOURS UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE!\" Ugh. I hated that sign - to me it represents everything that's wrong about commercialized holidays. Yes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Week 4","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ACNM-Advent4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":339830,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/mary-never-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":1},"title":"Of Mary, Never Enough","author":"Rachel","date":"December 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"De Maria, nunquam satis!,\" St Bernard of Clairvaux once said. Of Mary, never enough! \u00a0In these last few days before the great feast of Christmas, perhaps you're feeling harried or haven't had time to prayerfully prepare, or just aren't quite into the Christmas. Or perhaps you're drowning\u00a0in carols all day,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_3104-630x630.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_3104-630x630.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_3104-630x630.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":181178,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/in-the-spirit-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":2},"title":"In the Spirit of Advent","author":"Ablaze Ministries","date":"December 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year during Advent, the Johnson clan leads a church-wide food drive.\u00a0 We ask our church community to draw a family from our sister parish in downtown Houston and pray for them, give them boxes of food, and maybe get them a present or two.\u00a0 Then two Uhauls get filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advent-CCFM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":182741,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/the-prayers-2nd-sunday-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":3},"title":"The Prayers – 2nd Sunday of Advent","author":"William Rooney","date":"December 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we can learn much from what we pray day in and day out in our Liturgy it would be profitable for us to reflect more profoundly upon the prayers of each day. We should especially do this over the season of Advent which marks the end of one liturgical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advent-CCFM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-285x190.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":185388,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/185388\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":4},"title":"The Prayers – 3rd Sunday of Advent","author":"William Rooney","date":"December 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we can learn much from what we pray day in and day out in our Liturgy it would be profitable for us to reflect more profoundly upon the prayers of each day. We should especially do this over the season of Advent which marks the end of one liturgical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","block_context":{"text":"Column","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/column\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Lauren Gulde","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/advent-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":186756,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/sunrise-dark-faith-advent-brightness-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":42623,"position":5},"title":"Sunrise: through the dark faith of Advent to the brightness of Christmas","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"December 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Traveling through Advent with grief this year has led to me to soul search about what Christmas is, and, in the process, to notice similarities between the journey of Advent into Christmas and the stages of the soul's progression into the heart of God. \u00a0According to Carmelite spirituality, \u00a0the soul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Renee Bork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}