We Three Kings: Music for Epiphany
We Three Kings “We Three Kings of Orient Are . . .” Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know this song? It’s easily the most familiar hymn associated with Epiphany, at least as it’s celebrated in the Western Church. I wrote more extensively about Epiphany itself in my post on Janauary 6th, the traditional date […]
Epiphany – Faith vs. Power
We can learn a lot from the faith of the Magi. How often do we, who have the full revelation of Jesus Christ and his Gospel, instead seek our own worldly agenda, following the example of miserable King Herod?
12th Day of Christmas – The Christmas Tree Points to Christ
The Christmas Tree, 5 January 2023 12th Day of Christmas Merry Christmas on this, the 12th Day of Christmas! Today is the last of my daily “Twelve Days of Christmas” posts. While today doesn’t mark the end of the Official Christmas Season, we are nearing its end. In an earlier post, I described the season as […]
11th Day of Christmas – Christmas Bells: The Wrong Shall Fail, The Right Prevail
Longfellow, who had very powerful incentives to turn to despair, instead created a poem that shows us that the joy of Christmas is not a denial of the brokenness of this world, but God’s answer to it.
10th Day of Christmas – The Christ Child and St. Genevieve
But who can we trust if we can’t trust the God who became a little child among us, and showed us how to say, even in the final extremity, “Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:46)?
9th Day of Christmas – God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways
God’s Ways God’s ways are not our ways. We hear a lot of Isaiah through the seasons of Advent and Christmas, but the passage below expresses with particular clarity one of the most striking and curious things about Christmas: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.For as the […]
8th Day of Christmas – The Scandal of Mary, Mother of God and Marian Medley
As Christians, we know that we are called to conform ourselves to the Truth, not to the impossible task of somehow conforming Divine Truth to ourselves.
7th Day of Christmas – Christmas is Just Beginning
Are You Sure It’s Just Beginning? Just beginning? Does it seem like it’s just beginning . . . ? Some images never fade. I have a vivid memory of a Christmas years ago, shortly after my return to the Faith. The Christmas tree was literally hurled through the front door on the afternoon of Christmas […]
6th Day of Christmas – The Holy Family and the Crisis of Our Family
Holy Family The Holy Family, whose feast we celebrate today, commemorates the Holiest Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. But, as always, there’s more to it. The name of the feast also reminds us that “the family” in general, composed of father, mother, and children, is itself “holy.” It is, in fact, a gift of God. […]
5th Day of Christmas – St. Thomas Becket, Martyr and the Paradox of Christmas
Today, on the 5th Day of Christmas, we find ourselves celebrating yet another martyr, St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered by knights in the service of King Henry II of England on December 29th, 1170.