INTRO TO ADVENT

WELCOME BACK! It’s Season 3 of Saints for Slackers: A podcast of little inspirations on the saints for slackers worldwide.

Happy American Thanksgiving if you’re listening as these episodes drop. If not, no worries, Slacker, you’re in good company.

SUMMARY OF PODCASTERS INTRO:

• I’m Lisa Martinez: Back to co-host with my brother – Jeff Sanchez.
• I am the Founder of Little With Great Love, a restoration ministry of storytellers that use media to bring hope and healing to others.
• Brief background if you’re new here: We grew up in the metro Detroit area, but now both live in the south.

BRIEF HISTORY

• Since this a special season, where our podcast will serve as an Advent program, we know we’ll have some new listeners, so here’s a quick backstory on this podcast:
  • Inspired from a conversation between me and teammate Tammi McCarthy who wished there was a CliffsNotes version of the lives of the saints
  • We launched in Lent 2021 and produced 41 episodes in 6 weeks with our sister ministry, Red Bird Ministries, and 18 guest podcasters.
  • Back by popular demand, we launched Season 2 in September – November 2021. We did 17 episodes that season and opened it up to sponsors to help cover costs
  • Now we’re BACK, baby, for Season 3 for Advent. While you can enjoy these podcasts at any time, because the themes are universal, our focus will be on preparing ourselves for the birth of our Savior by journeying the Liturgical Calendar together through Advent.

WHAT IS The True Meaning of Advent?

The Advent season begins the Church’s new liturgical year. It is comprised of the four Sundays and weekdays leading up to Christmas.

The word “Advent” is derived from “ad-venire” in Latin or “to come to.”

While Advent does focus on expectation in anticipation of Christ’s birth and preparation for His arrival, this season leading up to Christmas, this is only part of the story.

The first half of Advent is typically dedicated to Jesus’ “Parousia,” or “second coming.”

As we prepare for the birth of Jesus, our Savior’s first coming, we also renew our desire for his second coming. So by celebrating the liturgy of Advent each year, we make “present an ancient expectancy of the Messiah” (CCC 524).

While this is considered a joyous season, since it is also a period of preparation of our hearts and minds for Christ’s coming, it is also a period of penance. The element of penance comes “in the sense of preparing, quieting, and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas,” according to the USCCB.

Devotions, like our Advent wreaths and this Advent podcast + materials, are meant to draw us back to the true meaning of the season.

THEMES

We’ll introduce the weekly THEMES of Advent on Sundays, which may also relate to a saint or the saints whose feast days we’ll be celebrating that week:

Week 1: Hope              

Week 2: Faith              

Week 3: Joy                 

Week 4: Peace

Week 5: Christmas Octave—focusing on the birth of our Savior and our hearts finding a home in Him

In the Catholic Church, we celebrate Christmas for eight days all the way through Epiphany.

Throughout the season, we’ll be featuring the saints whose feast days we are celebrating during Advent, so we’ll be following the liturgical calendar.

Epiphany: Which will conclude with a LIVE online FINALE event, which we’ll share more about in a moment.

FORMAT:

• Same: Brief (3-5 min) reflections on the weekly theme, saint, or feast (like the Immaculate Conception on December 8)
• Podcasts will post Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays during Advent through Christmas until the week of Epiphany; starting November 24, 2022, through January 12, 2023
• Jeff and Lisa will open and close the season, plus host a LIVE Epiphany event at the end where we invite the guests from our season and you, our listeners, to join us and share what epiphanies everyone had through this Advent journey.
• Podcasters: Team + more great NEW guests!

WE ENCOURAGE YOU:

To download our companion Advent calendar, which will feature original artwork by Editor and Artist, Caitlyn Pszonka.

• Subscribe on Apple, Google, and Spotify to get notifications of new episodes
• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see us post extras, share new episodes, etc.
• Check out our website. The reflections will continue to be featured as blogs. For these episodes that start and end the season, we’ll have videos you can watch of us. And you can visit our shop – such fun gear with our mascot, the Sloth, plus beautiful saint-inspired swag, new and classic.