5 Mystical Ways to Deepen Your Advent (Without Burning Out)

Advent shouldn't be a time to "do more stuff" but rather, to go more deeply into the things we're already doing. Here are 5 ways to increase your prayerfulness this advent, in the lineage of the Catholic mystics. These are designed not to overwhelm you, but invigorate you!🔥Additional St. Anthony's Tongue Resources:Enter the Stable: Advent with the Mystics:A 90 Minute Online Retreat, here on YouTube!https://youtu.be/exFRYGPGNHs?si=1Hl3xMUtx0iAuLLzAdvent Devotional Guide (also available on ALL Patreon tiers): Weekly reflections, prayers and more! https://www.stanthonystongue.com/products/p/pdf-advent-devotional-guidePatreon: Over 400 pieces of bonus videos, articles, and for Advent - near daily content reflections and more! www.patreon.com/anthonystongue The Violence of Marian Joy - A reflection on the joyful mysteries, including the nativityhttps://youtu.be/POGPjUCux4c?si=sPtsvk5azRbbwRPq ----🔥 Lectio Divina ResourceLectio Divina Video Episode: https://youtu.be/ibLtCzBlXZs?si=KiSMFADQwCjCs7cF-----🔥 Liturgy of the Hours/Chant Resources: Chanting the Hours Resource: Sing the Hourshttps://www.youtube.com/c/SingtheHours Psalm Tones: Chants and RantsThis is Sing the Hours' "vlog" channel. He has about 70 of the psalms sung, but it has most of the major psalm tones listed. I highly recommend using this playlist as a basis when learning a tone.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTznj9fyCSlDWxCmrBpOfEkXwIeWIe3I0 The Mundelein Psalter (This is available on Amazon as well) https://ltp.org/products/details/HMPSAL/mundelein-psalterThe Universalis App (Highly Recommend!!) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/universalis/id284942719The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (You can find many versions, but this one is highly recommended) https://www.baronius.com/little-office-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary.html

Into the Stable: Advent With the Mystics is a 90-minute mystical retreat for the aching, the tired, the spiritually hungry, and anyone longing to experience Advent beyond sentimentality. This episode invites you into the stable of your own heart. The place where God chooses to draw near with tenderness, poverty, and quiet glory.Across this longform journey, we walk with the great mystics and saints: St. John of the Cross, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Bernard, Thérèse of Lisieux, and more to explore the deeper meaning of Advent as a season of longing, divine hiddenness, and sacred poverty.This is not a countdown to Christmas. It is an invitation to encounter God in the very places you feel unprepared, unfinished, or overwhelmed.If you want to go deeper, I’ve created an Advent devotional guide that follows the same themes: longing, tenderness, hiddenness, and the stable of the heart. It offers daily Scripture, reflections, and practices designed to draw you into a more contemplative, interior Advent.Available Here: https://www.stanthonystongue.com/products/p/pdf-advent-devotional-guideAlso available on Patreon with over 400 pieces of bonus content and more! http://www.patreon.com/anthonystongue

What did it actually feel like when the saints encountered God? For St. Philip Neri, it was a globe of fire bursting in his chest. For St. Teresa of Ávila, it was a burning spear of love that pierced her heart. For others, it was light, fragrance, peace, or the trembling stillness that fills the soul when heaven draws near. In this episode, we explore the sensory mystics of the Church, the saints who felt God in their bodies, and what their experiences reveal about prayer, love, and the incarnational way God reaches us.We’ll look at the Church’s teaching on consolations and mystical experience, and walk through vivid testimonies from saints like Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, Philip Neri, Catherine of Siena, Columba Marmion, Gemma Galgani, and more. Their stories remind us that God is not distant; He moves through every sense, every ache, every silence.If you’ve ever wondered what it means to “feel God,” or whether that moment of warmth, ache, or peace in prayer was real, this episode is for you. Mentioned Videos My “Mystical” Reversion Experience:
https://youtu.be/LM8rudQFBukThe Transverberation of the Heart:
https://youtu.be/2U20bnJ7LN4 When God Veils:https://youtu.be/9_SaZRkhsA8 The Violence of Marian Joy: https://youtu.be/POGPjUCux4c My Other Channels/Support Patreon (400+ bonus articles, videos, prayer guides & more): 
https://www.patreon.com/anthonystongue Substack (weekly essays on Catholic mysticism): 
https://stanthonystongue.substack.com/Personal Substack: 
https://substack.com/@stanthonystongue Instagram (daily reels and reflections): 
http://www.instagram.com/stanthonystongue

Purgatory is not punishment. It’s purification. In this episode, we explore the mystical heart of the Church’s teaching on purgatory through the lens of love, unveiling, and divine transformation. Drawing on the Catechism, the early Fathers, and the voices of the mystics: St. Catherine of Genoa, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Julian of Norwich, and others—this reflection looks beyond fire and fear to reveal purgatory as the soul’s unveiling before God.We’ll uncover what the Catholic Church actually teaches about purgatory, what belongs to private revelation and opinion, and how the saints understood purification as the fire of divine love rather than punishment. Through this lens, purgatory becomes the final movement of theosis, the soul’s slow adaptation to eternal light—the moment the veil begins to fall.

Why do we fear those who drink blood when our own faith commands us to do the same? In this final chapter of A Catholic’s Guide to Monsters, we turn our attention to the vampire: not merely a monster, but a mirror of our deepest spiritual longings.Join us as we trace the vampire’s roots from the blood-drinking spirits of antiquity (the Mesopotamian ekimmu, Greek lamia, Roman strigae) to the medieval saints of the The Golden Legend whose dead rose to confess rather than devour.Then we follow the chilling case of Arnold Paole (1722 Serbia), a village, an exhumation, and a corpse that would not lie still — and how this horror led the Benedictine scholar Dom Augustin Calmet to ask: what happens when truth becomes terror?

What happens when holiness meets horror?In this special Halloween episode, we draw horror villains from a pumpkin bowl, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, even Pennywise, and match them with Catholic saints who could spiritually defeat them.It’s part theology, part comedy, and completely Catholic horror fun.Discover how St. Thérèse disarms rage with humility, why St. Francis might call Leatherface “brother,” and what the Eucharist says to a vampire’s hunger.If you love saints, spooky season, and a little mysticism, this one’s for you.

This Sunday’s Gospel isn’t just about miracles, rather, it’s about union. Nine walked away cleansed, but one turned back, fell to the ground, and met God.That’s the difference between healing and salvation, between proximity and intimacy.Gratitude isn’t manners — it’s mysticism.To thank Him is to recognize Him. To return is to love Him.And maybe the real miracle isn’t the skin made clean, but the soul that finally sees who touched it.In this week’s Mass Prep for the Mystic Heart, we walk the road between Galilee and Samaria, where grace still passes quietly by, waiting for one soul to turn back.

What does the Catholic Church have to do with werewolves?In this eerie episode, we explore the forgotten Catholic werewolf legends — from the cursed monks of Ossory and Gerald of Wales’ Eucharistic wolves, to St. Francis of Assisi and the Wolf of Gubbio, and even St. Christopher the dog-headed saint.These haunting tales aren’t about silver bullets — they’re about mercy. They show how the Church saw wolves not only as monsters, but as symbols of sin, hunger, and exile… and how grace dares to feed the beast.We’ll talk about:The Irish werewolves who received Communion in the woodsHow St. Francis tamed a killer wolf through compassionThe dog-headed St. Christopher, sanctified rather than destroyedJohn 10 and Matthew 7, wolves in Scripture, and the theology of demonic hungerWhy the Eucharist is the true cure for the curseSink your teeth into this one — folklore meets theology, and the result is strangely beautiful.

This Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 17:5–10) is not about more faith — it’s about less self. The apostles beg Jesus: “Increase our faith.” But He points to a mustard seed. Small. Hidden. Explosive.In this Mass Prep for the Mystic Heart, we dive into:-Why the Bride of Christ always begins with ache and longing.-The mystics’ path of littleness and nada — St. Thérèse, John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila.-What Jesus means when He calls us “unprofitable servants” — love doesn’t send invoices.-St. Francis of Assisi as the fool who emptied himself until only Christ remained.-The reversal: the Master who stoops to serve His servants, the Bridegroom who kneels before the Bride.This is mustard seed mysticism: God doesn’t need your performance, your devotions tallied up like receipts. He wants your presence. He wants your emptiness. He wants the tiny seed of faith that, surrendered, can move mountains.Prepare your heart for Sunday’s Mass with this reflection on faith, littleness, and the love that stoops.

👻 Yes… Catholics believe in ghosts.For over 2,000 years, the Church has spoken of things visible and invisible. In this long-form episode, we dive deep into what the Catholic tradition really teaches about ghosts, hauntings, and the paranormal.From St. Thomas Aquinas on souls visiting the living, to saints encountering spirits in purgatory, to gothic stories of hauntings, relics, and the economy of grace — this episode unpacks the mystery of what walks among us.We’ll explore:Do Catholics really believe in ghosts?The difference between heavenly apparitions, purgatorial souls, and the damned.Saints who saw spirits — Padre Pio, St. Gregory, and others.Why holy places feel different (the “relics of prayer”).What the Church says about hauntings, demons, and residual energy.How all this ties back to Christ, the Bridegroom, and the communion of saints.If you’ve ever wondered how Catholicism understands the paranormal, or why ghost stories have haunted the faithful for centuries, this is your guide.Peace be with you — and with your spirit.