Irish Catholic Bishop’s Conference Advent Calendar 2023
Advent Calendar
The Irish Catholic Bishop’s Conference are delighted to be bringing you our digital Advent Calendar again this year. It will go live on the First Sunday of Advent on 3 December 2023.
Now in its tenth year, the website of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference will host its interactive digital Advent Calendar to mark the beginning of the Church’s new year, the First Sunday of Advent. To mark this special season, this year’s Advent calendar will offer resources for school, parish and home and will be accessible behind a virtual door that, as per tradition, can only be opened on each day of Advent. Content available behind these virtual doors will include a short video message, seasonal crafts for children and prayers to assist us in keeping Christ at the centre of our Christmas preparations.
Advent (from ‘ad-venire’ in Latin or “to come to”) is the Church season encompassing the four Sundays and weekdays leading up to the celebration of Christmas. Advent is a time of spiritual preparation for the Lord’s coming at Christmas. Advent also prepares us for the second coming of Christ at the end of time.
The themes of the Advent Calendar this year are Peace, and Vocations. We hope you will join us again this year through the Season of Advent.
Note: The virtual doors above cannot be opened ahead of their actual date. All content will go live in the early hours of each morning.
Welcome to Day 11 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.
A video message from Catherine Wiley, Catholic Grandparents Association
Advent Prayers
Let us prayer: Lord, thank you for the promise of your Son who is our salvation. Help us to prepare our hearts for Christmas by opening our ears so that we might truly listen to each other in our family. May the words that we speak to one another become the sweet music of our unique family. All: We wait for you Lord.
Prayer for Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
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 these Christmas tree below and colour it in however you like.
To print: click on the image below to open a new page, then select “print” to print out the page for colouring.