9:30 P.M. on Christmas Eve, and all is quiet in the house as the children are getting ready for bed. It’s the best part of Christmas for me, the quiet part of the Eve. Time to sit, and pray, and meditate. No room at the inn. That’s been gnawing at me for months. A young [...]
Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category
A Room at the Inn
Posted in Christmas, tagged Belmont Abbey College, Good Counsel Homes, Room at the Inn on December 24, 2011 | 5 Comments »
My Christmas Card to the Coming Home Family
Posted in Christmas on December 21, 2011 | 5 Comments »
“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms [...]
Urbi et Orbi: Christmas, 2010
Posted in Christmas, tagged Pope Benedict XVI, Urbi et Orbi on December 25, 2010 |
From his Christmas Address Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World), Pope Benedict XVI: “The Incarnation is the culmination of creation. When Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, was formed in the womb of Mary by the will of the Father and the working of the Holy Spirit, creation reached its high point. [...]
Gentle Night
Posted in Christmas on December 25, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Midnight. Burning the advent wreath down with the Christ Candle lit in the center. Listening to boys air choirs sing the psalms as we wrap presents and get the children ready for bed. They’re too excited to sleep, though that’s coming fast. It’s the best part of Christmas for me. Looking at the Nativity set, [...]
Christmas: A Sermon of Pope Saint Leo the Great
Posted in Christmas, tagged Christmas Reading, Pope Saint Leo the Great on December 25, 2010 |
From today’s Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings Reading A Sermon of Pope Saint Leo the Great Christian, remember your dignity Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with [...]
My Christmas Card to All of Coming Home’s Family
Posted in Christmas on December 24, 2010 |
“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms [...]
Apollo 8 Christmas: Who We Are is Who We Were
Posted in Christmas, tagged Apollo 8 Genesis Reading on December 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I was a little boy who listened to this broadcast live, and have never failed to be moved by it. Merry Christmas!
Mary, Did you Know…?
Posted in Christmas on December 19, 2010 |
Mary was put through quite a bit. The apparition of an angel who tells her that she is to be mother of the Messiah. Her elderly cousin Elizabeth becomes pregnant, and her declaration that the babe of Mary’s womb is the Messiah. Elizabeth’s husband, a priest, struck mute by an angel in the Temple. The [...]
An Ancient Hymn
Posted in Advent, Christmas, tagged Let Al Mortal Flesh Keep Silence on December 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Christmas has become increasingly a quiet and reflective Holy Day for me, held in dynamic tension with Santa Claus and the children. This hymn, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, best approaches the meaning of the day, the tone, the solemnity that is beyond earthly description in contemplating God becoming one with us in our [...]
Herod’s Host
Posted in Abortion, Christmas, tagged Abortion, Bill 371, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Herod, Jessica Lappin, Pregnancy Resource Centers, Speaker Christine Quinn on December 8, 2010 | 5 Comments »
What would I have done? Would I have had the courage to stand against the tyrannical King who ordered the slaughter of innocents? Would I have helped Mary and Joseph, or any other mother and child escape the murderous wrath of a jealous King? I’d like to think that the answer is yes. While there [...]
This Year’s Christmas Card
Posted in Christmas, tagged Christmas, Sigrid Undset on November 25, 2010 | 6 Comments »
This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, and time for me to get going on printing my Christmas cards and start sending them out early for a change. So here is this year’s card, complete with cover graphic and message inside. The graphic is a Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Sign, with the description and explanation [...]
Erin Manning: The War on Christmas
Posted in Advent, Christmas, Uncategorized, tagged And Sometimes Tea, Crunchy Con, Erin Manning, Rod Dreher, War on Christmas on January 2, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I only started reading blogs last January when I stumbled out of my cave and discovered the twenty-first century. I happened on Beliefnet.com, which led me to Jill Stanek, who along with Bethany and Carla are responsible for this blog coming to life. On Beliefnet, I became a fan of Rod Dreher who writes “Crunchy [...]
Biomedical Ethics
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Christmas, Condoms, DNA, Quotes, Sexually Transmitted Disease on December 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
LifeNews reports, Obama Admin Forces Americans to Pay for More Embryonic Stem Cell Research: “National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins approved taxpayer funding of 27 more lines of embryonic stem cells.” Having overturned the Bush administration’s restrictions, we are headed in the wrong direction morally, but also scientifically. Embryonic stem cell research has consistently [...]
Urbi et Orbi: Christmas 2005
Posted in Bishops, Christmas, Dignity, tagged Pope Benedict XVI on December 24, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“Today we can dispose of vast material resources. But the men and women in our technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart. That is why it is so important for us to open our minds and hearts to the Birth of [...]
Elizabeth
Posted in Advent, Christmas on December 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
My nine-year-old, Elizabeth has had an other-worldly devotion to the Nativity since age two. It’s grace. To see it in action is to leave no doubt. Beth also loves Santa and all of the magic associated with being the target of another’s coming with gifts. Gradually, we are folding the Santa narrative into an understanding [...]
