For those of you that follow my Scouting-themed podcast, this episode will be something of a spoiler; the audio excerpt that forms the core of this episode was taken from a Scouting Stuff recording that won’t be published for about a month. But it introduces an important topic — the anima technica vacua — that I want to explore over the course of the Advent and Christmas season.

Listen to the Episode

The season of Advent — four weeks of preparation, reflection, and penance that precede Christmas — began this past Sunday. It will continue until Christmas proper, and the Christmas season continues thereafter until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 8th or 9th, which is the first Sunday that follows Epiphany (which, in turn, is observed on January 6th).