There’s so much suffering in this world right now, so much sorrow. It’s up to us to decide how we might give our heart during Advent. We may need a plan.

Many families make a trek, sometimes several times annually, to celebrate the holidays together. Here’s some advice for how to pull off a holiday away from home with grace — and only a few frazzled nerves.

Sometimes we can get caught up in the “doing” of Advent, even with best intentions, forgetting the truth that no practice we take on can come close to the power of God at work in our lives.

Father Stephen Gutgsell, of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish.

For the first time in history, 150 homeless people had a festive meal, served by Italian journalists and their families, under the famous baroque Bernini’s colonnade in St. Peter’s Square.

Father Allen Kuss of Edina has created a Fontanini Nativity scene depicting the Holy Land region, complete with landscape and buildings, including the temple in Jerusalem.

Photos featured this week include a Christmas tree in front of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, the Vatican Christmas tree and the 91st lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City.

Catholic villagers in northern Ivory Coast will be organizing Advent food and supplies for the nearly 42,000 refugees from the Sahel.