Getting Ready For Christmas and Advent Week 7

PUT JESUS FIRST: WEEK SEVEN

It’s the fourth week of Advent! December 16-23: This past week we’ve been focusing on the theme of JOY, and this week we move to the fourth theme: LOVE.    God is love. We’ve heard the phrase so much that it’s become a truism; but stop this week and really think about it. God. Is. Love.

If you want to know how to love each other, look at the love that sent Jesus to earth to live a life of love and pay the price for all of our sins. It's all about love. This isn't a love of fancy words and impossible tasks. This is a love that says, "I am willing to love you no matter what.” We can love because God first loved us.

What to do this week:  This can be a very hectic week, but hopefully you’ve reduced the stress by following this guide and planning ahead. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that there is present-wrapping, cooking and baking to be done, and eventually stockings to be stuffed. Breathe deeply when you start feeling stressed, and say a simple prayer: “O come, o come, Emmanuel.”  What Advent activity did you choose for your family to do? Revisit it this week.  Enjoy the week! Invite carolers in for hot cider, or go caroling yourself.  If this is the week you put up and decorate your Christmas tree, make sure to refer to the end of this guide for a blessing.  Family activities: o Share a time in your life when you felt most loved by God. o Invite a friend to Christmas mass at your parish. Most people become a part of a church because they're invited by a friend. o Are you striving to love people the same way Christ loved you? o Watch a movie that depicts the life of Christ, such as The Young Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, or The Nativity Story. Consider the difference in the fictional tales of Christmas and the true story of Jesus' birth.


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Advent Wreath, Week Four of Advent

Involve your whole family in the prayers and readings of the Advent wreath. Assign different parts to different family members ahead of time.

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we light all four candles on our Advent wreath. Christmas is now just days away. Anticipation is mounting. The light is increasing! The fourth candle of Advent is the Candle of love. God’s love is a perfect love. It holds nothing back. God, in love, gives us everything we need to live a life of hope and peace.

Once the candle has been lit for this fourth Sunday in Advent, then do this reading together:

Person A:  In those days Caesar Augustus published a decree ordering a census of the whole world. Everyone went to register, each to his own town.

Person B: And so Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to David’s town of Bethlehem, to register with Mary, his espoused wife, who was with child.

Person C: While they were there the days of her confinement were completed. She gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the place where travelers lodged.

Person D: There were shepherds in that locality, living in the fields and keeping night watch by turns over their flocks. The angel of the Lord appeared to them as the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were very much afraid.

All: The angel said to them, “You have nothing to fear! I come to proclaim good news to you—tidings of great joy to be shared by the whole people. This day in David’s city a savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord.”

© 2016 Daughters of St. Paul – Find us online at www.pauline.org 22
Prayer for the week God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. He is a sign of your love. Help us walk in that love during the Christmas season, As we wait and prepare for his coming. We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Reading for the week Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in high heaven, peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us.” They went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger; once they saw, they understood what had been told them concerning this child.