12th Day of Christmas: The Christmas Tree Points to Christ
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 a series of ripples emanating from Christmas Day with decreasing […]
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
Merry Christmas! Today is the 10th Day of Christmas, as we continue to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Creator as a little human child. It is helpful when we think about the meaning of the Nativity to remember that our ancestors generally did not fully share our sentimentality towards children.
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: What Exactly is The Christmas Season?
There are some people who don’t see the point of all this complexity: why not just celebrate Christmas and be done with it? But the Liturgical Calendar is not just about commemorating past events: it’s about experiencing the events of Salvation History in our own lives.
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.
4th Day of Christmas: Holy Innocents and the Saving Power of Christmas Carols
Herod’s worldly strength was no match for the might of the little baby born in Bethlehem. Likewise, the Holy Spirit working through sacred Christmas songs changed hearts that were not moved by human arguments.
3rd Day of Christmas: St. John the Evangelist, Love at the Foot of the Cross
John is beloved because he is a disciple who himself loves much – so much that he alone of the Apostles follows Christ all the way to Calvary and stands with the Blessed Mother and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross. He is our model in loving discipleship.
6th Day of Christmas: St. Stephen, Good King Wenceslas & The Power of Christ’s Love
Just as our Christmas joy is tempered by the realization that the child lying in the manger must someday hang on the Cross, St. Stephen reminds us, a mere day after the Feast of the Nativity itself, that following the Child of Bethlehem can mean our own Calvary.
Merry Christmas (and Feast of St. Anastasia)!
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born […]