Sunday before the Nativity (Sunday of the Ancestors)

Hello all! I can hardly believe it's just a few days before Christmas, wow! And this week we did make it back to Divine Liturgy after a few weeks back at Mass in our home parish. 

And I was so thrilled that this particular weekend was the one that we were able to attend, because it is one of two special themed Sundays leading up to the Nativity after mostly counting up the weeks since Pentecost for quite some months now. This last Sunday prior to Christmas is called Sunday of the Ancestors (I see it on our specific church bulletin as Sunday of the Holy Fathers) and I could immediately see why once the liturgy began: the Gospel reading was the genaeology narrative from Matthew. It was lovely, so perfect for the Sunday before the Nativity!

We hadn't been back for a few weeks, and thus had not yet seen the church decorated for the upcoming feast with a big, beautiful nativity scene and a lit Christmas tree. It felt very festive, and it was so special to be there and a part of it all. Everyone in that small 9 am Divine Liturgy congregation welcomed us back with open arms, expressing how happy they were that we were back. And we were, too!

Meanwhile, I've been duitifully following along in both Nativity fast/Advent traditions (aside from the dietary recommendations, not brave enough for that yet 😂) and have been enjoying the heck out of it:

I have to say, center stage this Advent has been my time with the Liturgy of the Hours Morning and Evening Prayer. Although I do own a gorgeous 4 volume set of the breviaries, I have subscribed to the Word on Fire monthly booklets, and they make it so easy that I've gotten quite addicted to them. The booklet is so easy to toss in my work bag, and with no flipping around to figure out what Propers I need for the day, it makes it ideal for never missing an installment of Morning Prayer:

But I love blending both traditions into my life. Liturgy of the Hours, plus some candlelight and Advent incense. Life is good for this Catholic Nerd!

Next week I'll be back to talk about the Nativity! 😍 We were planning on attending Mass at our Latin rite parish (the Divine Liturgy times didn't fit well with our hosting of Christmas eve dinner/our Christmas morning traditions with the kids) but the bummer news is that we are currently experiencing a blizzard of quite epic proportions, and are currently under a travel advisory. 😬 The bishop has given us permission to say in this weekend and is encouraging parishes to live stream their liturgies. So I'm thinking that we might not be able to make it to Christmas Mass in person, which makes me incredibly sad! But it is what it is, I'll be reporting in regardless, because life will still be quite Catholicy in the house of the Catholic Librarian, even during blizzard conditions. :-)