Father Francisco Javier “Patxi” Bronchalo, of the Spanish diocese of Getafe, published the 2024 edition of his Advent Calendar.
The Advent calendar, drawn by Father Bronchalo as he has done in previous years, proposes 28 daily challenges that serve as preparation for Christmas.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
In statements to ACI Prensa, the Spanish priest explained that “the Advent calendar is a visible sign to help live this time internally. With advertising and current consumption in which it seems that it is already Christmas, the Advent season is blurred, that is why these things help.”
Father Bronchalo specified that “the idea is that every day the little ones in the house can color it and do the challenges. I set the challenges, I try to ensure there is a balance between challenges towards God, such as prayer or reading the word, and challenges towards others in the form of works of mercy.”
After noting that he considers it important not to lose these “signs of Advent,” the priest highlighted the importance of hanging an Advent wreath at home to “light each candle on Sunday together as a family and pray together.”
“Also in the last days before Christmas we sing Christmas carols together, Christmas carols of waiting that talk about the journey and the preparation of Mary and Joseph,” he concluded.
In 2024, Advent begins on Sunday, December 1 and ends on Tuesday, December 24, on Christmas Eve.
The priest published two versions of his Advent calendar, one in color and another to color, which can be downloaded at this link.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.