Celebrating the Holidays, Celebrating Faith
December 2012 Newsletter

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Celebrating the Holidays, Celebrating Faith

Watch this brief video of students talking about how they celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa.

Watch the video.

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"Advent Conspiracy" Video

Watch this 2 minute video about the challenge of keeping Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas.

Watch the video.

 

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Christmas at Loyola

Loyola University at New Orleans

Christmas at Loyola: A Musical Celebration at Holy Name of Jesus Church has been a yearly tradition at Loyola University at New Orleans for more than twenty years. Each year in December, different ensembles from Loyola’s College of Music and Fine Arts perform together. This running tradition over the years has served as a way to engage the community during a time of celebration and unity. 

Read more about Christmas at Loyola

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Zipoli, Domenico

Highlighted Jesuit

As a young man, Domenico Zipoli studied with Alessandro Scarlati and other recognized masters. At the age of 28 he joined the Jesuits and a year later went to serve in the Paraguay mission. There he did his greatest work in music for the native people. After only nine years on the mission, he died, not yet ordained.

The Boston College Jesuit musicologist T. Frank Kennedy has devoted considerable attention to Zipoli. See, for example, “Music and the Jesuit Mission in the New World,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits (Autumn 2007).

View other Ignatian terms.

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Gifts of Our Ignatian Heritage

Featured Resource

This vibrant wall poster describes, both pictorially and with brief text, the "Five Gifts of Our Ignatian Heritage" (mission, discernment, reflection, solidarity and kinship, and service rooted in justice and love).

Order now.

 

 

Featured Prayer

Christmas Day Table Prayer

Lord God of Life,
together with the beautiful traditions
of decorating the Christmas tree,
of singing carols and giving gifts,
this Christmas dinner is an important part
of our celebration of the birth
of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Come, Lord our God,
and surround our feast day table
as we delight in this joyous season of Christmas.
Gift us in this meal with the taste of happiness
as we savor this coming together
of family and friends.
As sparkling stars and singing angels rejoiced
at the birth of the Christ Child in Bethlehem,
so may we take great joy
in this our Christmas dinner-celebration.

May You, our God, bless it and us
in Your holy name.
Amen.

View other prayers

Print free prayer cards

 

Featured Seasonal Resources

Online Advent Retreat

This December, join writer/editor Vinita Wright for an online Advent retreat at her blog, Days of Deepening Friendship. Explore themes related to the creativity of the season.  To read more about the online Advent retreat, click here.

Other Free Online Advent and Christmas Resources

Free online Advent and Christmas resources, click here. 

Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice's Advent Blog at Xavier University, click here.

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Monthly Reflection

"Jesus did not come to explain away suffering and remove it.  He came to fill it with his presence."

-Paul Claudel
^{(Picture by Kailyn Cripe)}

More reflections can be found in the book, Creating Privileged Moments.

Order now.

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