¡Alégrate! Cómo encontrar tu lugar en la historia de Adviento, Diario

A group of 12 of us have been working with the Rejoice! Finding Your Place in the Advent Story study. All of the participants have commented on how they have enjoyed it, learned from it, and how it has helped deepen their faith. It is my first time with the series, and the videos are inspiring and heartfelt. Thank you!

I did this with a small group of friends. I thought it was excellent and will recommend it to the director of religious education for the parish in 2022.

Each year I have ordered 10 of the books and shared with friends. Mostly Catholics. A couple Christians. A couple in Recovery. This series has made the journey so personal, so touched by Mary and Joseph and Jesus. It keeps the materialistic focus at bay and keeps God front and center daily. Thank you. I love the tools Ascension provides to even us non Catholics!

I used this as part of our advent reflections with my 8th grade students this year. Everyone really enjoyed using these. The quiet it brought to my classroom, was totally a God quiet, not a sleeping quiet. I have used the video's in the past on Monday's, but this was the first year I used the reflections daily with my students. The pictures also made a beautiful focus for each week of advent on my prayer table.

I have purchased the Advent Rejoice for the past three years. And each year it only gets better! I am motivated and glad to read, reflect, pray, while I read each day of the 2021 Advent and Christmas season. During Advent I want to get closer to my Catholic roots/faith and you helped me do this. I sent one copy to a Sister in Christ who I met at the ACTS retreat and we have become Catholic, "besties." The other one I sent to my catechumen who I am sponsoring in RCIA. This year I feel as if I went spiritually deeper in my faith this Advent The fourth week was the best! I was able to imagine in my mind and was transported into each of the places. I was in the scene. I was apart of the scene. It was wonderful. Thank you for providing the Rejoice series for Lent and Advent. Blessing to your staff, especially Fr. Mark Toups.

The Rejoice this year was so good!! I would highly recommend it. In prayerfully reading it each day, I was able to visualize Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and others as well as the places in the Christmas narrative. So touching; so moving; so thought provoking!!

A few other people followed Rejoice with me during Advent. We all agree that we felt a closeness never felt before with the Christmas story.
Fr. Toups is such a good and thought filled leader for this Advent retreat. He helped us to be “in the Spirit “ as we journeyed with the Holy Couple on their destination with complete confidence in Our Lord.
Sister and Fr. Josh were great additions to our experience. They lend their personal experiences along the way and helped us to wholeheartedly connect with the human part of the journey
The different type of prayer we were lead through also put us entirely in our Advent adventure. Th

I love each of the Rejoice! Advent journals! I find them very inspiring and help me focus on God during the busy season. The artwork is stunning! It brings to life the Advent story!

Fr. Toups presents events in the lives of Mary and/or Joseph and asks the reader to read through and ponder a Psalm or other Old Testament passage that these two might have relied upon as they trusted implicitly upon the Lord from The Annunciation through the Birth of Christ. Then, he asks the reader to identify how the passage is speaking to her/his heart, and consider what he/she wants to say to God. Father's approach guides the reader in a continuous Lectio Divina study throughout Advent.

This Advent journal was a blessing to me and my son. He is currently deployed in the Army for a year and we did this together, sending a picture of our reflections each day to each other. I'll treasure this journal forever!

Each day of Advent I looked forward to doing the meditations in Rejoice. It was the best advent meditation book I have read. It enriched my Advent adventure and gave me joy. I look forward to the Lent meditations.

Father Mark is truly a gifted speaker and author. He has a way of including details about the Holy Family and the Christmas story that I never heard in my long life. Most of us grew up with a very glamorous idea of what Christmas is all about where in reality it was dangerous and difficult. Father Mark gave me an appreciation for the struggles of Mary and Joseph and my heart was filled with joy each day as I progressed with them on their journey to Bethlehem. Thank you Father Mark for another memorable Advent.

I've been blessed each year that I've used Rejoice. Father Toups has a gift for guiding souls to be more present to the Holy Spirit and to the Advent Story. This is a true gift helping us focus on the truth and beauty of the season amid all the distractions of commercialized Christmas. Thank you, Ascension Press. Thank you, Fr. Toups.

I LOVE the Rejoice! Advent guides! After the past 2 years of beautiful meditations and artwork, I wondered whether or not this year could be as impactful, but it has exceeded my expectations! It provided beautiful meditations that spoke to my heart, beautiful artwork that moved my soul, and space for journaling how the Lord was speaking to me, which proved to be very enlightening in my spiritual journey. I am so grateful! I bought enough this year to offer them to my friends who also really enjoyed the moving reflections.

This is our second Advent using the Rejoice series. We did "Advent Meditations with Joseph" last year. We absolutely loved both of the studies. The discussions were vibrant and brought us to a deeper understanding of the Advent season. So much so that our Bible Study suggested having our usual Christmas party after Christmas Day. In addition, several in our group were doing "The Bible in A Year" with Father Mike Schmitz. Doing the two together compounded the spiritual experience. Also, we are madly in love with the illustrations!!! They bring such a richness to the study. Beauty is beauty, and we loved looking forward to each section to ooh and ahh over the picture. We will be doing it again next year!!

Rejoice! is hands down the BEST Advent preparation study I have ever completed. I absolutely loved the format of focusing on different themes every week. Fr. Toups packed SO much into two short pages every day and I loved meditating and praying with the selected Scripture passages. The final week of meditations was very inspiring and beautiful - I can't say enough good things about it. This is going to be my Advent study every year! I would LOVE it if there were something similar available for Lent in preparation for Easter :-)

This Advent was the best ever for me! Fr. Mark Toups was good at getting me spend time and look forward to spending time with our Lord in a thoughtful way . It was easy to carve out time to read scripture and time to understand what the lord was trying to say to me personally. I highly Recommend this book to anyone wanting to be aware,understand, take action to accept or reject what I heard every day!

I really enjoyed taking the quiet time during Advent this year with Rejoice! Finding your place in the Christmas Story.... I have always loved actually trying to imagine myself in the situations of those in the Bible and our faith history. This program helped me really focus on being IN the story, rather than watching it from outside. Thank you all for all you do. Peace in 2022!

I loved the Rejoice advent book. It made my advent wonderful !

This advent, I walked deeper and deeper into my heart, my desires, my sin and above all, my identity as a child of God. I questioned myself on how completely I surrender unto God's timing, promises and outcomes and understanding I didn't trust him completely.
Now I am aware of some things that make me grasp control in my life, and this walk through rejoice taught me how to surrender everything to God.
I desire to let silence be a constant part of my prayer from now on.
I'm completely grateful, I've been wanting to have the journal for three years now, but there is no shipping to Mexico, this year I decided to buy the E-book and as long as I can, I will walk with Rejoice meditations through my advents.

I loved Rejoice as it brought me closer to our Lord. Each day was a blessing, and I thank you for it.

I liked everything about Rejoice. I enjoyed learning more about the places and also what it was like for them and the prayers they would have said. I got closer to being able to put myself there. The prayers, reflection questions were also very good for me to do.
I feel certain I will repeat Rejoice again next advent.
Thank You

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the Rejoice program. The meditations were thoughtful and helped me focus on the Nativity as a participant and look at the biblical characters in depth.

I found this journal to be very interesting. It enabled me to see what the holy family was like and the place they lived. It helped me to get more meaning out of Advent.

The book “Rejoice” enhanced my Advent experience and I am grateful. I also purchased the beautiful Advent/Christmas cards and prayer cards. We are blessed to have Ascension and all that is offered to us, so beautifully and faithfully done.

Thought-provoking such a nice way to contemplate the Christmas message. The drawings were beautiful

Each year I am invited to join a number of initiatives designed to enrich the Advent experience. I have tried several but Fr. Toups' Rejoice series is the best! This series is quite thought provoking yet only requires 15 to 30 minutes a day. I journal my reflections and especially this year I learned about what it means to truly trust in the Lord through doubt. I'll be back next year!

This is my 3rd time with the Rejoice series. I just love it. Father Toups has a way of drawing me in. I am still going back over the 4th weeks lessons. Being in the scene is so powerful. I gave it to my uncle and he loved it also. Thank you for this gift of Rejoice.

What a beautiful experience going through Advent with the Rejoice journal. My encounter brought me closer with God and the Holy Family. I love the reflection piece at the end with the Bible passages. I’m looking forward to the Lenten series with Fr. Mark as well.