When “Santa Baby” starts playing at the grocery store, I thank God I’m Catholic and try not to hum along! That can be difficult because it is a catchy—if irritating—tune. During the Advent season, we ...

This is the third installment of a series on the great hymns of Advent. To learn more about Advent, read the introductory post: On Advent: What It Is & Why You Need It. Part 1 on the hymns of Advent ...

After reflecting on a hymn that is nearly a millennium old, our focus this week is on a hymn written in the 21st century. “A Hymn of Advent” was written a couple years ago by Matt Scott, one of my ...

Advent is a traditional season celebrated the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, in recognition and anticipation of the coming of Jesus. The Latin word for Advent means coming. Jesus came to ...

I entered parish ministry with a fair amount of idealism, particularly liturgical idealism. Inconveniently, the liturgical proclivities I picked up in seminary were not especially popular with my ...

Last year, America published “An (unconventional) Advent Playlist,” an article including two playlists by Karen Nielsen and Rogelio Juárez, in response to a friend’s lament that “‘O Come, O Come ...

Originally composed in Polish, this Advent hymn comes from the same prayers that gave us "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." The immense nature of the Catholic music tradition is boundless in its gifts to the ...

This week, Christians begin a new liturgical year and enter into the rich and ancient four-week season of Advent. For most American Christians, Advent passes virtually unnoticed, as the celebration of ...

Find today’s readings here. Once every six or seven years, when Christmas falls on a Monday, we have the shortest Advent possible and the Fourth Sunday of Advent, as it does this year, falls on ...

'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' has been embedded into the Church's Advent liturgy for many centuries. During the Advent season churches everywhere ring out with the hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." It is a ...

Advent for some Christian denominations is a penitential season of waiting and longing in the four weeks before Christmas. The consumer-driven holiday season often overlooks the Advent themes of ...