The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree Points to Christ: 12th Day of Christmas

Unfortunately, self-styled debunkers sometimes attack the Christmas Tree (erroneously) as a pagan intrusion.  We Christians need not be swayed by such nonsense. 

Christmas Bells - Spes in Domino

Christmas Bells – The Wrong Shall Fail, The Right Prevail: 10th Day of Christmas

As he himself struggles with profound sorrow in the midst of our most festive season, Longfellow juxtaposes the joyful ringing of bells in “The belfries of all Christendom” to the manifest lack of peace among men

God's ways - Spes in Domino

God’s Ways are not Our Ways: 9th Day of Christmas

Ours is a God indeed whose thoughts are not our thoughts, whose ways are not our ways: he constantly confounds our expectations. This is not the Grand Entrance any of us would have devised for God Made Manifest.

Christmas Continues

Christmas Continues: 6th Day of Christmas

Today is a Solemnity, in fact, Monday in the Octave of Christmas.  Even if nobody else seems to notice, you have every reason to go about your business humming “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”  

Two Sides

Two Sides of the Same Coin: 4th Day of Christmas 

The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus is a model of God’s plan for the family. The slaughter of the Holy Innocents underscores how far we need to go, right now, to adhere to that model. 

Christmas conversion - Spes in Domino

The Christmas Conversion of St. Thérèse

The Lord didn’t need to knock Thérèse down, beat her up, or have her shot in order to get her full attention. All he needed was to allow her to overhear a couple of stray comments from the father she loved so dearly.