Happy Wednesday!
We’re changing things up a bit today. Instead of our usual aggregate of news stories, we’re presenting a wide-ranging collection of seasonal articles, movies and videos you and your family can enjoy over the long holiday weekend.
The collection grew spontaneously out of recommendations submitted to us by Souls and Liberty subscribers and staff members during the last few days. We decided to list Pope Leo XIV’s four favorite movies as well.
Feel free to add to the list by sharing your favorites in the comment section at the bottom of the page. There’s surely a veritable cornucopia of options!
With every entry we’re posting, we’re wishing you and yours a Blessed Thanksgiving — and a Holy Advent that guides us more fervently than ever to Christmas.
From the Souls and Liberty staff
THANKSGIVING
Gratitude: The Parent of All Virtues essay by James Robeson
We arrive again at that time of year when the idea of Thanksgiving becomes so familiar that it is almost forgotten. The busyness of cooking, traveling, making arrangements for others, watching football — and, more recently, shopping for Christmas — tends to crowd out the actual idea of giving thanks. Add to that the increasing secularization of society and the concept of giving thanks to some invisible deity seems antiquated and meaningless. But we would all profit by adjusting our thinking and heeding the wisdom of those who came before us, faced tremendous struggles and still found cause to give thanks to God.
Read more at The Stream
The First Thanksgiving in North America: St. Augustine, Florida
Watch at Catholics for Catholics
Thanksgiving Is More Than Turkey – The holiday unique to America
It’s that time.
Which is to say it’s Turkey Time in America again.
Once again, families are getting together for that beloved American icon — turkey!
Aside from the turkey, I have another Thanksgiving tradition — this one literary.
Yes, every Thanksgiving holiday — which usually extends into a long weekend — I open the pages written by that Pilgrim-era governor of the then-newly declared New World countryside called Massachusetts – William Bradford. …
Read more at The American Spectator
President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (1863)
Watch at KQKYHITS106
The Great Turkey Town Miracle
Watch at Quiver Distribution
Copy Our Neighborhood Pie Night Tradition If You Want To Build A Better Community
My family started my favorite Thanksgiving-week tradition when I was in middle school, not long after we moved to a new neighborhood.
We invited our cul-de-sac neighbors to our house on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving — a big step for a family of majority introverts fairly new to the area. Everyone was tasked with bringing themselves and a pie to share. My mom made chicken pot pie for dinner and, as the gathering grew in size over the years, shepherd’s pie as well.
Read more at The Federalist
Thanksgiving: Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse (1910) (Free online book)
See @RCCCoulombe
ADVENT
What is Advent?
Beginning the Church’s liturgical year, Advent (from, “ad-venire” in Latin or “to come to”) is the season encompassing the four Sundays (and weekdays) leading up to the celebration of Christmas.
The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and to the anniversary of Our Lord’s birth on Christmas. From the earliest days of the Church, people have been fascinated by Jesus’ promise to come back. But the scripture readings during Advent tell us not to waste our time with predictions. Advent is not about speculation. Our Advent readings call us to be alert and ready, not weighted down and distracted by the cares of this world (Lk 21:34-36).
Like Lent, the liturgical color for Advent is purple since both are seasons that prepare us for great feast days. Advent also includes an element of penance in the sense of preparing, quieting, and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas. …
Read more at USCCB
Understanding the True Meaning of Advent – Ask a Marian
Watch at Divine Mercy
Three Dimensions of Advent – Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermon
Watch at Bishop Robert Barron
Mother Angelica Live Classics (1991) Advent And Repentance
Watch at EWTN
Singing with the Ancients: O Come, Emmanuel’s Deep History
Watch at Greg Simpson
O Come, O Come Emmanuel – Traditional Choir
Watch at smittysmee
CHRISTMAS
The True Meaning of Christmas – Bishop Sheen
Watch at Catholic Voices and Prayers
The Gift of the Magi (Full video)
Watch at Eire Joe
The Little Match Girl (Full movie)
Watch at Little Lamplighters
The Snowman (Full movie)
Watch at uderzo1984
The Christmas Candle (Full movie)
Watch at Samuel Goldwyn Films
A Christmas Carol (1935) (Full movie)
Watch Cult Cinema Classics
Scrooge (1970) (Full movie)
Watch at Aleda Music
A Christmas Carol (1984) (Full movie)
Watch at The Stream – Movies and More
Silent Night (2002) (Full movie)
Watch at Chicken Soup for the Soul TV
The Story Behind the Song: Silent Night (Full video)
Watch at Shelter Cove Community Church
POPE LEO XIV’S FOUR FAVORITE MOVIES
It’s a Wonderful Life (Full movie)
Watch at Legend Films
The Sound of Music (Opening Scene)
Watch at Rodgers and Hammerstein (Opening Scene)
Life Is Beautiful (Trailer)
Watch at Miramax
Ordinary People (Trailer)
Watch at Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers (Trailer)
Thank you! Please add your favs in the comment section below for others to enjoy!
Every year for Thanksgiving, Rush Limbaugh would read the (factual) story of the First Thanksgiving. It is so worth re-running that story!
Thank you, Ann! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
And to you too, Mary! 🙂