God’s Strong Hand and The Presentation
God’s Strong Hand 2 February 2023 The Presentation Today in the secular world (at least in the United States) we observe the venerable tradition of Groundhog Day. This event involves allowing an earth-dwelling rodent to forecast our weather for the next few weeks. It’s just a fun bit of nonsense, and yet our media outlets pay […]
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)?
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 […]
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 St. Vincent of Lerins
It’s not that the power of the Herods, Huns, and other worldly tyrants has had no lasting effect. It’s just that their “power” doesn’t accomplish what they expect. St. Paul again provides us with the key when he says: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
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.
2nd Day of Christmas – St. Stephen and the Incarnation
We need to embrace the Gospel in its entirety. The joy of the Nativity leads to the sorrow of Cavalry, which itself prepares the way for the still greater glory of Easter.