Article by Phoenix writer Kate Murphy ’25:
Kellenberg celebrated the start of the Advent season this year, as usual, with the Advent Prayer Service. Spanning over the course of two days in early December, the Advent Prayer Service is a Kellenberg tradition. Made up of a video presentation and a period of reflection & prayer, the Advent Prayer Service is often a favorite among Kellenberg students and teachers.
This year, the video focused on the importance of using Advent as a time to get into the Christmas spirit and realizing what Christmas is truly about by creating a parody of the 2003 Christmas movie Elf. The video showed senior Eoghan Walsh feeling stressed and forgetting the true meaning of Christmas. However, he got into the Christmas spirit and remembered what Christmas is truly about after taking on the traits of Buddy the elf. It served as a reminder that by letting go of stress during Advent, preparing for Christmas and Christmas itself become much more enjoyable and it becomes much easier to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
After the video, Kellenberg students depicted a Nativity scene on the stage as the song “He Shall Reign Forevermore” by Chris Tomlin played, allowing everyone in attendance to have some time for reflection on the true purpose of the Advent season and prayer. Overall, the Advent Prayer Service is an interesting and excellent way for students, faculty members, and the Kellenberg Community to get into the correct mindset not only while preparing for Christmas during Advent, but also for the coming of Jesus.