Free Advent Resource Roundup

Guides for Watchful Waiting

Advent is almost here, and I have seen such a beautiful wealth of free resources being offered this year that I wanted to pool them all together for you.

I also must admit that I am the biggest pencil-sharpening nerd when it comes to new spiritual endeavors, and in the past I have routinely bit off more than I can chew and been unable to focus deeply and meaningfully on anything. Do not be like me. Advent is about hope, but it’s also about rest. Don’t overwhelm yourself—just choose one or two things that really resonate with you. Let your heart be your guide.

Devotionals

—My free St. Óscar Romero Devotional is available here. It’s a 55-page PDF incorporating Romero’s homilies from the four Sundays of Advent (and bonus Christmas midnight mass!) with meditative prayer suggestions. Each homily is broken up into five sections, so you can dwell in them in little bite-sized pieces throughout the week. Romero preached on the same readings in 1978 that we will hear this year, and I love it when the lectionary bridges time and space like that. We don’t have an official group working through it, but you can feel free to share your thoughts on social media using the hashtag #romeroadvent to find each other (search the hashtag to find posts).
This one’s for you if: you want to spend Advent in the company of someone who will stare down and be honest about the brutal world we live in while still finding hope, beauty, and the courage to insist that we do better.

-I met Leonetta Elaiho through a Collegeville Institute retreat this year, and I’m so glad I did. Her Advent offering is called Between: Advent Reflections and Practices for the Holy ‘Not Yet.’ In Leonetta’s words, “it’s a collection of reflections, art, journal prompts, breath prayers, and more, all centering Black voices with the intention of being as expansive and inclusive as God herself.” Um, sign me up, please.
This one’s for you if: you’re looking for creative and spiritual rest and want to soak up the wisdom of Black writers and thinkers.

Reflection Series

-St. Ignatius teaches us that we find God in all things, and this year we’re finding God in Christmas prep. I look forward to this Advent series written by a bunch of talented folks every year (and I’m grateful to the Jesuit Conference for making my lifelong dream of writing a spiritual essay about National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation come true!) You can sign up here.
This one’s for you if: you’re looking for a meditative moment each day in the midst of a busy holiday season.

Virtual Events

-I’m so excited to preach for the Women’s Ordination Conference virtual Advent Taize prayer service. It’s called The Sacrament of Darkness, and that title is honestly so good that I almost don’t need to say anything else (but I will!) The service will be held on the Winter Solstice, Thursday December 21st at 8pm Eastern, and you can sign up here.
This one’s for you if: you want to imagine the nourishing possibilities of darkness on the shortest day of the year.

-My friends at Jesuit Media Lab are hosting an Advent evening of art and stories with beloved iconographer Brother Mickey McGrath on December 11th at 7:30pm. The title, again, is amazing: Our Lady of Montserrat and Friends: Madonnas of Color and the Healing Power of Beauty. You can sign up here.
This one’s for you if: you want to engage with the season through visual art and storytelling.

Audio and Video

-Pray As You Go, a Jesuit project, is my favorite prayer app, and each year they release an Audio Advent retreat. This year’s is called The Cry from the Manger, and there is one episode for each week of Advent, released on Mondays. Peaceful music, time to reflect, and, yes, really soothing British accents are the hallmarks of Pray As You Go, and I love them all. I usually turn PAYG on when I’m cooking or folding laundry.
This one’s for you if: you need some tranquil, contemplative accompaniment as you go about your day.

-Pray as You Go also has a short daily video series for kids this year called Advent Adventure. If your kids love video as much as my kids do, then this is gonna be a hit. If you scroll down to the fifth row here, you’ll see the Advent Adventure heading, and the videos should be uploaded there starting on Sunday December 3rd. (You can preview the first two videos on their Vimeo channel.)
This one’s for you if: you’re looking for an approachable way to share the season with your children.

This is not by any means an exhaustive list, but as I was compiling these resources, I started to feel overwhelmed, and I thought you might feel overwhelmed in turn by a never-ending list. So, I decided to keep it to a manageable length. But! Please feel free to share other resources in the comments if you have favorites I haven’t mentioned! My hope is that everyone will find something that sings to them.

---

A Few Hopeful Things

-This is not, strictly speaking, an Advent event, but Gracie Morbitzer’s book The Modern Saints is out next week, and several of us will be speaking about it at a free virtual panel hosted by Random House on Tuesday December 5th at 7pm Eastern. I’m honored to be alongside Gracie and fellow contributors Marcie Alvis Walker and Camille Hernandez. You can register here.

-My friend Liz Cooledge Jenkins’ book Nice Churchy Patriarchy is out today!! It was a joy to get to read an early copy of this thoughtful, incisive, and hopeful book. I think you will love it.

-It was a complete delight to spend a day last week talking about mysticism and activism with the bright and talented students of Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. I’m still treasuring their insights about the poems we studied together and honestly pinching myself that I get to do such cool stuff with amazing people. I’m really grateful for the opportunity.

In joyful hope,
Cameron