Way of the Star

“Way of the Star is the kind of Advent companion I wish every Catholic family had on the coffee table—beautiful, prayerful, and rooted in the heart of the Gospel. Andrea Thomas, Greg Boudreaux, and the Vigil Project have woven scripture, music, and art into a real encounter with Jesus, not just another devotional to check off your list. Pick it up, slow down, and let Christ meet you in the manger this year. You won’t regret it.”

“Our lives are filled with noise. So many of us are so busy that the seasons of the Church can quietly pass us by. This journal is a beautiful companion for Advent. It’s an invitation to slow down, listen, and be intentional with your heart.”

“There is a vast difference between saying prayers and praying. Saying prayers is easy; praying is hard. Praying necessitates not just time but effort—and, perhaps most difficult of all, listening for and to the voice of God. ‘Can’t anyone teach me how to pray?’ the great Catholic author Flannery O’Connor wrote in her prayer journal years ago. Many people feel the same way. I think Flannery would have loved Way of the Star. I think you will too! Not only could this change how we celebrate Advent, but it could also open for us an entirely new way to pray that could transform our lives by drawing us into ever deeper communion with the God who became man to rescue us.”

“Seeking deeper prayer requires the interactive experience of talking to God—not just with words but through listening from the heart. This journal, Way of the Star, provides a framework combining scripture, music, meditation, and reflection. It’s a gift to our senses and an aid to our prayer. It helps people follow the star that leads them to a closer encounter with Jesus.”

“A rich invitation into Advent’s mystery, this journal really teaches us to listen. And as we soon discover, to listen is far more than merely to wait. So incline your ear, and be delighted by the beautiful music and conversation that takes shape in this holy season.”

“As a pilgrim Church, we are people on a journey like the Magi. In his homily on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the homo viator—the traveling human—to emphasize that all of our lives are a journey. This book is an amazing Advent journal that provides us with many beautiful prayers and profound meditations for our pilgrimage and journey in this Advent season. Reading and praying through this book will help us to listen more intently in silence and pray more deeply with scripture. This journal is an echo of the teaching of our modern spiritual master Cardinal Robert Sarah: ‘Through Sacred Scripture, when it is listened to and meditated upon in silence, divine graces are ‘poured out on man.’”

“Music can help old words come to life again, and it awakens in us the emotions that lie hidden in them. In this book, not only do Andrea and Greg guide us back to the first words of Christianity’s origins, but also their music breathes on these burning coals to start a fire in a winter season.”