Prepare Your Heart: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

Join Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR—founder of Corazón Puro—on a multimedia Advent journey led by the saints and the Holy Family to prepare yourself to enter into the story of Christ’s birth through prayer, charity, and joyful acts of service to the needy.

Prepare Your Heart features stunning original art by Valerie Delgado of Pax.Valerie, along with daily meditations on a passage from scripture, reflection questions, prayer, and space for journaling and notetaking.

During each week of Advent, you will embark on a new path informed by Franciscan spirituality to guide you to becoming closer to God:

Week One, the way of Nazareth: a spirituality that attunes you to the needs of others and the hidden presence of God.Week Two, the way of the saints: featuring Sts. Lucy, Nicholas, Juan Diego, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast days fall during Advent; they will teach you to live with intentionality, humility, and devotion.Week Three, the way of St. Joseph: revealing the creative courage of Jesus’s foster father, teaching you how he makes a home for each of us in the heart of God.Week Four, the way of Mary: a tutorial in learning how to say yes to God’s call for your life and trusting in his loving providence.
 

Prepare Your Heart is perfect for both individual and group use. Free companion videos; ideas for celebrating Sundays in Advent with family, friends, and small groups; and a downloadable leader’s guide are available at avemariapress.com.

The book, videos, leader’s guide, and family guide are available in Spanish as well.

From the Publisher

Take A Multimedia Advent Journey

A Note from Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR

We must return to Nazareth in these our times. Not the teeming city of today with its churches built upon ancient edifices and bustling businesses lining the streets; no, the Nazareth of our hearts requires that we go much deeper than the surface. Nazareth, oh town of silence and labor, how we need your eloquent lessons.

Nazareth, which saw Joseph and Mary prepare for the birth of our Lord, may we prepare as well. Nazareth, oh hamlet that bore witness to some of the most celebrated events in all of history—the Incarnation, the Annunciation, and the Immaculate Conception—teach us today by calling us deeper.

Special Features Include: free weekly companion videos with Fr. Torres stunning original art by Valerie Delgado of Pax.Beloved free downloadable discussion guide daily meditations on scripture space for journaling and notetaking

Fr. Torres Guides You Through the Four Weeks of Advent

Week One: The Way of Nazareth

As we begin the first week of preparation for the Christmas feast, I invite you to join me in the school of Nazareth. Throughout Advent, we’ll be studying the followers of Christ—the saints—as well as Joseph and Mary.

Week Two: The Way of the Saints

As we journey through Advent with the Holy Family in Nazareth, we are accompanied by the host of angels and saints in the Church. Each and every single one of us has a purpose—a calling.

Week Three: The Way of St. Joseph

This week, let’s look to Joseph’s actions. He was a man of deep silence. The Bible does not offer a single recorded spoken word of his, though his faithful actions speak volumes.

Week Four: The Way of Mary

This week I invite you to enter into the prophetic nature of our Advent journey by prayer and acts of service to those in need. Let us joyfully prepare our hearts to say with St. John the Baptist once again, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

About Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR

Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR, is a priest with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the founder of Corazón Puro and Latinos por la Vida. He also serves as a retreat guide, spiritual director, and an international youth and young adult speaker.

Torres earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Seton Hall University, a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and master’s degrees in divinity and theology from St. Joseph’s Seminary.

Torres hosts the EWTN TV shows ICONS and Clic con Corazon Puro (in both English and Spanish) He is a cofounder of Catholic Underground, an apostolate of the Friars of the Renewal. He also cofounded the Casa Guadalupe and JPII houses of discernment. Torres is a Hispanic content contributor to Formed, host of the National Eucharistic Revival podcast Revive, and posts a weekly reflection on Instagram.

About the Illustrator

Valerie Delgado is a Catholic painter, a digital artist, and the owner of Pax.Beloved. She illustrated the book ABC Get to Know the Saints with Me by Caroline Perkins.

She lives in the Houston, Texas, area.

Journal Your Way through Advent with Fr. John Burns

Adore: A Guided Advent Journal for Prayer and Meditation features the prayerful insights and meditations of Lift Up Your Heart author Fr. John Burns and the gorgeous art of Valerie Delgado. Through the pages, you will reclaim the sacred sense of longing and joyful hope at the heart of Advent, focusing on a new theme each week—vigilance, preparation, nearness, and Emmanuel—that you can relate to your own life.

Journal Your Way through Lent with Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT

Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation features the prayerful insights and meditations of Behold and Loved as I Am author Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, and the gorgeous art of Valerie Delgado. Through the pages you will meet the tenderness of God’s mercy, the power of his love, and the restoration of your heart and life as you practice prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C5PT8KQT
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ave Maria Press
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 18, 2023
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6.8 MB
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 105 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1646802524
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,613,151 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #700 in Christmas (Kindle Store) #915 in Christmas (Books) #1,360 in Christian Meditation Worship & Devotion (Kindle Store)
Customer Reviews: 4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (36) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });