Introducing the Advent Companion
You open the December calendar to find a time for something, and several of the spaces are already spoken for. Work carries on. There are people to see and arrangements to make. Prayer needs a place in the month you are actually going to live.
I have put together A Benedictine Advent Companion, a free printable planner for Advent 2026. It brings the season’s calendar together with weekly reflections and room to write. Advent begins on Sunday, November 29 this year and continues until the evening celebration of Christmas on December 24.
Advent prepares us to celebrate Christ’s birth and turns our attention toward his coming again. Keeping the season means living with that hope while the ordinary demands of December continue.
Where it began
The inspiration is Benedictine attention to the way a day is lived. Prayer has a place alongside the work and the people who need us. I wanted to bring a calendar and weekly reflections together so there would be room to consider when a practice could happen as well as what it might be.
The four weeks draw on the Sunday readings and the Rule of Saint Benedict. They begin with listening, then turn to making time for prayer, being glad for another person’s good, and receiving the people who arrive in our lives. Each reflection follows that theme into an ordinary situation, such as answering a message or welcoming someone through the door.
What is inside
The companion includes a seasonal calendar, four weekly reflection and writing sections, and a reusable planner. The calendar follows U.S. Roman Catholic observances, with a Benedictine addition marked separately. The final days include the O Antiphons in Latin and my English translation, with prompts and room to write.
Getting a copy
Visit the Advent companion page to see a preview and get your copy. I will email both US Letter and A4 versions. Requesting it does not subscribe you to a mailing list.
The last page points to Ordinary Things, my book of weekly reflections for the whole year, as well as the online Rule.
What would you like to make room for this Advent?
Companion reflections draw on the Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue and chapters 48, 53 and 72. English edition edited by Brian Junyor, Ordinary Things Press, 2026.