Announcing the Poetry and Prose Winners of the
2023 Marian Advent Prayer Contest: Seeking Intercession

Congratulations to the winners of CLA’s 2023 Advent Prayer Writing Contest Winners!

We thank all who entered the contest.  We trust that these prayers will light your own Advent journey.

Poetry Winners

First Prize: Maura Harrison
Second Prize: Fran McManus, RSM
Third Prize: Justin Lacour
Honorable Mention: Carla Galdo
Honorable Mention: Thomas Medlar
Finalists: Monika Cooper, Zina Gomez-Liss, Tamara Nicholl-Smith, Michael Ortiz, V. Paige Parker, Paul Pastor, Grace Claire Przywara, Douglas Taylor-Weiss.

Prose Winners

First Prize: Katie Curtis
Second Prize: John Campbell
Third Prize: Elizabeth Dusold

Poetry Winners

Mary, Please Come and Intervene
Maura Harrison

O Stella Maris, hear our humble prayers:
Life’s silent midnight and its piercing cold
Have chilled our hearts. Please warm our pilgrim cares
With Tepeyac’s deep draping folds, with bold

Persistent stars to punctuate the blue,
With hope to wane our woes. We’re often lost.
Please light our wandering way and guide us to
The manger, sanctuary candle’s cost.

The small red flickering flame signals the presence
Of Bethlehem, our coming to the Lord.
Please keep our eyes on the Nativity,
Infinite wonder swaddled now, the essence
Of miracle, of still-point pointing toward
The sacred heart of Son’s divinity.

Advent Redux: A Seasoned Colloquy
Fran McManus, RSM

 First Sunday of November, time shifts:
2 AM to 1, deeds of the hour unsynced
though not undone.  Now, speeding along,
it’s almost time to get my Advent on.
Expectant, expecting, again and still….
how to do this bigger time drift
back to long ago Bethlehem,
and then back farther still,
still point where Love always
was, is, willed us into being,
wills us to be…

Ah, Mary, at angel exit, what did you think?
God’s choice, your yes, God’s mercy… Your song,
both solo and duet, the anthem beckons.
For millennia rehearsed and still
unpracticed, Love’s once and always gift
opened, opening each, any, all of us
taken in, reflected, seen through
the wonder, beauty and surprise—
Dear Mother, teach us to recognize
ancient wisdom in infant eyes.

Insomnia prayer
Justin Lacour

Mother, help me through
this long night.

I hate the dark, but I’m scared
what the light will ask of me,

so often I’ve chosen the dark,
thinking the dark will be more comfortable,

and to say there is no peace
is to say once again there is no room

for you and your son.
Little virgin with the moon at your feet

touch my eyes so I can see this world
only as the Word sees it,

psychotic yet beautiful enough
to die for;

touch the crooked wrinkles
of my mind, let me think

only the bright diamonds
of His thoughts;

touch this abscess in my heart
so I remember the city of the poor.

Let me trust enough to take
the child from your arms

and carry Him to my cramped
closets of panic,

and then out to a night
of countless lost stars.

Vigil Prayer
Carla Galdo

How did you count the hidden, mantled days
while Christ was curling tight within your womb? 
Did you toss pebbles in a bowl by moonlight,
or notch lines on the door’s rough lintel wood 
while carving the shema upon your heart?
Or did you walk into the stainless night
and try to number all the stars that compassed
in constellating circles in the sky?

How could you know what motherhood might mean,
still barely out of childhood yourself?
As you drew water from the dust-rimmed wells
did you peer at the wrinkled heaviness
that tugged the faces of the other women
who gathered, chatting there? Or did you watch
the way the ewes nudged through their herd to find
their missing lambs? 

                                    O Mary, I’m your child,
a mother too, who begs for little things
like honey on a bit of homemade bread
or songs you’ve sung to me a hundred times.
So while I’m huddled here, awake, pulled tight
like skin upon a throbbing drum, I’ll ask:
please lay your cooling hands upon my head
that I might rest, and rise up with the dawn.

Waiting
Thomas Medlar

Resting in the dark sweet soft night,
Sheltering You.
All the candles ever lit in prayer
Flicker in this vast presence within.
The star hides behind a cloud, then reappears.
Your heart beating beneath mine:
Steps in Your journey into this world that’s waiting
For the dawn to rise into the sky.

Mother, we who struck each match for each candle,
Sit in shared darkness,
Waiting and pleading.
Come now, come softly,
Bring your son for us to hold in our arms.

Prose Winners

Oh Mary, Queen of the Trinity
Katie Curtis

Oh Mary, Queen of the Trinity, you who are the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son, and the bride of the Holy Spirit, lead us into the communion you share with the glorious triune God. Oh sweet mother, pour out your grace on us. Take our hands and place them in the hand of Jesus, your beloved son, whose heart you share, whose most Precious Blood was shared with yours. Lead me, most tender mother, to the source of love and goodness, our Heavenly Father, who in your humility you poured yourself out to aid. Hasten the work of the Holy Spirit, whose wisdom and peace renew all things. As you gaze on the most blessed Trinity, encircled in their love, pour out their grace on us, your children, and bring us into the family of God.

Teach us to trust in the humbleness of Bethlehem, the faith of Egypt, the patience of Israel, and the suffering of Golgotha, and the Divine love in the Holy Family home. You who know the Father’s ways, beg him to grant us grace and peace through you, our most precious intercessor. With your mother’s heart, and with St. Joseph’s aid, bring our pleas to his mercy. Help guide us to the path that leads to Heaven, and to be ready for the Heavenly banquet. In your gentle love, fashion for us a heart worthy of our Heavenly Father, your beloved Son, your most pure Spouse, and you. 

A Son’s Advent Prayer
John Campbell

Mother Mary, you conceived and waited in quiet lowliness for the sake of the One who chose you for the Incarnation. On that night long ago, your waiting ended, and angels heralded the birth of your Divine Infant to the astonished shepherds who trembled and believed. Now this generation also waits for the day that marks his birth. No longer are you lowly, as your image is displayed across the world, not only for those who honor you, but for the multitudes who neither tremble nor believe.

How can I, a man, understand the Woman? How can I, a sinner, comprehend the Immaculate? Yet I am told to entreat you as my advocate before the Infinite God.

I cannot understand, cannot comprehend, but I do ask you to hear my prayer because I can trust a Mother.

Blessed Mother, Peaceful Child
Advent Prayer
Luke 1: 28-46
Elizabeth Dusold

O most Blessed Mother, as I watch and wait for the coming of your Son, I want to follow your example of faith and trust.

“Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.”
            Show me how to recognize God’s presence in my life.

“She was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”
            Let me ponder all that is happening in my life without grasping for control. 

“Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.”
            Teach me to quiet my mind when I am anxious; let me trust God’s plan. 

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices with God my savior.”
            Replace my fear of the future with a joyful spirit.  

Holy Mother, just as you lovingly cradled baby Jesus in your arms, surround me with your mantel of love and protection.  Let me rest like a peaceful child in the security of his mother’s arms.    

Amen.

Celebration for Winners and Finalists

Catholic Literary Arts invites you to a virtual event through Zoom to celebrate the Advent Prayer Contest’s winners and finalists.

These celebrations occur in a joyous virtual community eager to hear and share the writing of today’s writers of Faith.  You’ll walk away inspired to write more yourself, and, we hope, inspired to pray these new Advent prayers written by members of the CLA nationwide community.

The virtual event will be Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 at seven p.m. CST. It will last 75 minutes. 
Register here for this event.

Contest Information

Catholic Literary Arts (CLA) encourages you to write Advent prayers to Mary, the Mother of God, for our Marian Advent Prayer Contest.

A prayer for this contest may be written in poetry or in prose. Each prayer has a word limit of 300 words, not including the title.

Each submission to the contest will be judged according to the effectiveness of the use of language, imagery, and Sacred Tradition.

This contest is part of CLA’s focused and ongoing efforts to encourage people to write new work which uses the rich traditions and images of the Catholic faith to bring God into today’s world through the originality of contemporary writing.

Submission Guidelines:

All submissions must be:

• typed in 12 point font and submitted through Submittable in a Word file of .doc or .docx.

• all work is blind-judged which means that the judge must not see the name of the author. Therefore, the author’s name must not appear on the submission or in the document’s file name.  

• original work that has not been published online or in a hard copy journal, magazine, or book.

• the work must be the original creation of the person submitting the work

• there is a word limit to each submission of 300 words, not including the title

Submissions Period

This contest opens October 2, 2023 and closes November 17, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Submittable Guidelines

The electronic submissions platform for this contest is Submittable.

 In order to use Submittable, you will need to create an account on their website, if you do not already have one. Creation of an account within Submittable is free.

If you have questions or problems with Submittable, please contact their Customer Service directly via their website, submittable.com.

Each writer may enter one poem or one prose piece.

Entry Fees

The entry fee per submission is $10.

A writer may enter only one poem or one prose piece.

Prizes/Awards

Prizes will be awarded in the poetry category as follows;

• First prize, $75

• Second Prize, $50

• Third Prize, $25

Prizes will be awarded in the prose category as follows;

• First prize, $75

• Second Prize, $50

• Third Prize, $25

Winners must complete IRS Form W-9 to receive payment in U.S. dollars.

Submit Your Prayer in Poetry here

Please use this link to submit one prayer in poetry. The Submittable form will direct you how to pay the submission fee. You will be given the option in Submittable to pay by credit card or via your PayPal account.

Submit Your Prose Prayer here

Please use this link to submit one prose prayer. The Submittable form will direct how to pay the submission fee.

Celebration for Winners and Finalists

Catholic Literary Arts invites you to a virtual event through Zoom to celebrate the Advent Prayer Contest’s winners and finalists.

These celebrations occur in a joyous virtual community eager to hear and share the writing of today’s writers of Faith.  You’ll walk away inspired to write more yourself, and, we hope, inspired to pray these new Advent prayers written by members of the CLA nationwide community.

The virtual event will be Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 at seven p.m. CST. It will last 75 minutes. 
Register here for this event.