Poetry, songs, art: 3 ways to make this an Advent of beauty

Fyodor Dostoevsky's line, "beauty will save the world," is a favorite line to quote, especially when considering the rich 2,000-year history of the Church and art ... from music to literature to the visual arts.

I love quoting another line, this one from Benedict XVI, who found that the pure greatness of music born from the Church "demonstrates the truth of Christianity."

Many complain that in our day, music, art, architecture, etc., is nothing like in the glory days, even if many signs of renaissance can be found.

But I would rather not focus on the negative! This Advent, I'm delighted to have discovered three unique, daily mailings that I think will make this Jubilee Advent singular.

By the way, Christmas Eve falls on Monday this year, so we'll have one of the short Advents. There's no time to lose!

Guide Jenny Lark Snarski is taking us on "Lumine Verbi - by the light of the Word" calling especially on poetry by Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC, and other more well known poets.

Sister Wolff was a Holy Cross Sister from rural Wisconsin who would be president of St. Mary's College in Notre Dame for almost 30 years. Tasked by the US bishops, she started the first graduate program in theology for religious sisters and lay people in the 1940s. She also studied with C. S. Lewis and Thomas Merton sent all his manuscripts to her first before submitting for publication.

She will be the most featured poet of the Advent series, but all of her books are out of print so this is a great way to get to know her.

Other poems will be included from poet greats/famous writers such as Shakespeare, George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Bronte and Victor Hugo, as well as Catholic figures such as Saint Gregory Narek, Saint Gregory Nazianzen, and newly named Doctor of the Church St. John Henry Newman.

Happily, this series will continue during Christmas up to the Baptism of the Lord.

Poems are selected to pair with daily Mass readings (linked to each post) with a few pointers to understand the poem, but primarily to enter to prayer and personal reflection alongside it.

Sign up here.

The ChristianArt.org web site and newsletter is actually not specific to Advent, but we can jump in as this season starts, in a very Catholic New Year resolution way!

Christian Art offers the daily Gospel Reading paired with a related work of art and a short reflection.

This is brought to you by Fr. Patrick van der Vorst, a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Westminster, London, who is a native of Belgium.

Before coming to the priesthood, he had a career in the world of art, and is a specialist in 18th-century French furniture. He was a Director of Sotheby’s Europe.

The daily reflections, interweaving the Gospel and a selected piece of art, draw from his quarter-century of experience in the art world, with his knowledge of the Gospel and his own personal spiritual journey.

Sign up here.

Lastly, "Waiting and Wassailing" is brought to us by the Jesuit Media Lab, with a community of writers reflecting on songs and stories, "a chance to wassail — to sing Christmas carols — and wait."

In the introduction, Eric Clayton reflects on the tiny moments of waiting that life gives us as an opportunity to stoke our "inner flames of joy."

" ... the thing about joy," he said, "is this: It can be fueled by the tiniest, seemingly most insignificant sources. A smile. A memory. A song. A simple human interaction. ... A song is a simple way to lift our gaze with joy."

Thus, the community of writers is bringing back for a second year the Waiting and Wassailing Advent initiative. Each day's email includes a reflection and a link to a song.

Sign up here.

I've signed up for all three, and while I might not be able to get through the three of them each day, I think these resources will make for a unique Advent -- which is appropriate in a Jubilee.

Let's see how it goes!