A Wordless Witness?
A friend recently shared this “Seven Advent Smartphone Tips” YouTube video by Fr. Roderick Vonhögen. It’s a quick 3-minute video with some great suggestions for how to live out and share Advent using some of the tech tools of our time.
One particularly creative and simple suggestion is to take a daily Advent photo and post it to your social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. When you post the picture, also include a short Advent thought. National Geographic posts a photo of the day. Why not Holy Mother Church, too?
So in that spirit, I started sharing an Advent photo of the day on Instagram and Twitter. Yesterday’s photo showed my daughter putting up a number on the same Advent calendar I enjoyed as a child. Today’s photo showcases the Nativity my mom handcrafted (Yes, I say I say, with her own two hands, I say!) and a beautiful lesson she taught me along the way. I shared all about it in my latest column at CatholicMom.com (click here to read it). I received some very warm emails and Facebook messages from women of all ages who also have heirloom Nativities lovingly made by their moms and grandmas. Come to think of it, that Advent calendar was also created by mom. What a talent!
The commercialized Christmas scenes on display are plentiful, no doubt. But take a second look and I bet you find deeper meaning. There are pockets of holiness all around. So look around your home, neighborhood, nature … even the shopping malls. The celebration of Advent is happening all around us. Snap a photo of things that speak to you. Then use those collective pictures to create a personal Advent calendar. If you use social media sites, consider sharing with your networks, too. You never know, one picture may be the wordless witness that leads another closer to Christ.
*Update: I’ve been informed a group of Catholic bloggers are doing this very thing (yay!) and adding the phrase #AdventPhotoADay to the photos they share on their social media accounts. Beth Anne shares more at her blog BethAnnesBest.com.
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December 5th, 2012 
There is a group of Catholic women bloggers doing an #adventphotoaday through twitter and Instagram! The blog we’re following with the list of photos to post each day is bethannesbest dot com
Excellent! Thank you for this info! I will update post to reflect as much.
Someone shared this post with me and I was like hey that is my contest!! Thanks for sharing it with your readers! So far people have liked it!!
Beth Anne – you should forward your blogpost to Fr. Roderick, the priest behind the YouTube video who also talked about sharing an Advent photo of the day!!
Good idea!! I will do that now!
The idea of uploading Advent photos to social media sites is so great. I was just reading a story about a teen named Dylana Smith who is doing something similar. She noticed a lack of Catholic presence on Instagram and started up an account because of it. She’s made it her mission for the Year of Faith to share Catholic images on Instagram.
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