“At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God’s own love and concern.” (Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Love: A Fruit Always in Season) Please share on social media. Print this entry
Christmas
The Epiphany—God Has Come for You
OUR SEARCH FOR GOD It is likely that each of us here actively seeks the Lord. Jesus instructs us to seek Him, saying, “Seek and you will find.” Man and woman’s search for God is a recurring story through the ages as we try to discover the meaning of our lives. While meditating on the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the […]
A King to Behold
Dr. Scott Hahn reflects on the Mass readings for Christmastide: The Epiphany of the Lord Readings:Isaiah 60:1–6Psalm 72:1–2, 7–8, 10–13Ephesians 3:2–3, 5–6Matthew 2:1–12 An “epiphany” is an appearance. In today’s readings, with their rising stars, splendorous lights, and mysteries revealed, the face of the child born on Christmas day appears. Herod, in today’s Gospel, asks the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah […]
The Magi and the gifts of …. Lent?
What shall we give him? I have always been intrigued by the magi. Their story forms the majority of Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus Christ, and yet there remain so many questions about these mysterious figures. Where did they come from? How did they know to follow the star? What did they think when they found the Holy […]
God Chose Mary to be His Mother
The teaching that Mary is God’s mother was proclaimed to teach us that Jesus is true man AND true God. Each January 1 (the Octave of Christmas), the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. I receive more comments and questions from non-Catholics, and even some Catholics, about the Church’s Marian practices and teachings than just about any other topic. […]
Remembering the Holy Innocents
On the fourth day of our Christmas celebration, the Church reminds us that not everyone is joyful; that there exist those who are not of goodwill who do not wish to receive the season’s glad tidings. Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents in which the Church recalls and honors those baby boys whose lives were taken in a […]
St. John and the Incarnation
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“God became man and became friends with people like us.” It’s fitting that a few days after we celebrate God becoming man, we celebrate the feast of one of his best friends. John the apostle, evangelist, guardian of the Blessed Mother, and beloved disciple was also an apologist for the mystery we celebrate during this season: the Incarnation. One of […]
Good King Wenceslaus and Christmas’ Call to Holiness
Most Christmas carols are about that first Christmas night or the celebration of Christmas today. But one stands out as something different. In a way, the carol “Good King Wenceslaus” isn’t as much about Christmas as it is about what Christmas requires of us. “Good King Wenceslaus” always gets stuck in my head on two days: September 28 and December […]
God’s Greatest Gift
"Adoration of the Shepherds" (detail) by Gerard van Honthorst [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
“I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Merry Christmas! I love holidays. I love family. The two just seem to go together, don’t they?. Some holidays are joyful gatherings, some not so much. We are all too human, as the saying goes. But I say, give me holidays and family any day; warts and […]