Day 18: Wednesday 20 December 2023

Welcome to Day 18 of our Advent Calendar

During the 22 days of Advent, new content will be available each day behind the calendar’s doors. 

Season of Advent

Advent is the four-week season before Christmas during which we prepare for the coming of Christ.  The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming”.  The season of Advent is a time of waiting, conversion and of hope, which has a twofold character as:

  • A time of preparation for the Solemnities of the Christmas season, in which the first coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered; and,
  • A time when – by remembrance of this – our minds and hearts look forward to the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time.

For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.

Our digital Advent calendar is a helpful resource for our ‘journey’ towards Christmas.  Each day, by clicking on a virtual door, we are inviting you to take a few minutes to avail of our resources to rediscover the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

Advent Message from Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe

 

Advent Prayers

Our Prayer Intentions for the Day to Pray Together is for Peace and we offer this prayer by Pope Francis

Prayer for Peace by Pope Francis 

peaceLord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.

 

Kids’ Corner

Each day of Advent you will find fun activities for children to enjoy and learn more about the Season of Advent!  Print out the Advent scene below and colour it in however you like!

To print: click on the link below to open a new page, then select “print” to print out the page for colouring.

Activity for day 18