While the Advent Calendar is now live and available to use on diocesan and parish websites, please note that the virtual doors of the Advent Calendar will not open ahead of time – they will open on the day assigned to them and the first door will open on Sunday 27 November.

The Advent Calendar will run right up to and including Christmas Eve. The content will go live at midnight so each virtual door will be available to open from early morning on each of the days of Advent.

Advent Calendar content

A popular feature from last year’s Advent Calendar was the audio thought for the day. This will feature once again on this year’s Advent Calendar. Contributors this year will include Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin; Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin; Anna Keegan and Clare McEvoy from Trócaire; Mary Johnson from Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service; Father Bryan Shortall, OFM Cap; Brother Richard Hendrick OFM Cap; Junior Infant student Eliza (5), Sixth class student Cathal (12); Transition Year Student Joe (15) and University Student Emma Tobin (19).  These Thought for the Day audio recordings will be available on the pages of the Advent Calendar as well as on our podcasting and on-demand Audioboom platform.

The 2016 Advent Calendar will also include:

• The words of Pope Francis taken from his 2016 Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), his letter marking the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy Misericordia et Misera, his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (Praise be to you), his daily homilies from Casa Santa Marta and his Twitter feed;
• Mass Readings and Saint of the Day;
• Advent videos: blessing of the crib in the home, blessing of the advent wreath in the home, prayer when lighting the lights on the Christmas tree, family table prayer;
• Advent music;
• Information on saints during the Advent such as Saint Nicholas;
• Video and text reflections from Pope Francis and Irish bishops
• Family prayers (mother and child, children, grandparents, parents and godparents);
• Prayers for the season: for families in need, for those suffering neglect and violence, for Irish emigrants, for those in prison, for those who are sick, for refugees and migrants; for Christians suffering in the Middle East and Iraq and for those in difficulty here in Ireland;
• Faithbytes: Short snippets from the Bible, the Catechism (including the Adult Catechism published by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference) and Share the Good News.
• Resources for Advent and Christmas from Veritas, including a book of the day recommendation;
• Advent events in dioceses and parishes;
• Information on Trócaire’s Global Gifts for 2016;
• Food Bank appeals from around the country such as Crosscare in Dublin and information on the work of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul;
• Advent and Christmas messages from Irish bishops in preparation for the Nativity of Our Lord.