If we celebrate with such solemnity the birth of Jesus, it is to bear witness that every human being is somebody unique and unrepeatable…somebody thought of and chosen from eternity, some[one] called and identified by his own name. It is as it was with the first man, Adam. It is as it was with the[…]
Day: December 25, 2024
Christmas Urbi et Orbi
(Here is the Christmas address of Pope Saint John Paul II, from way back in 2002, and the needs for which he prayed eighteen years ago are much the same now as then; in fact, they are much the same as, say, 419 or 719, 1319 or 2024 anno Domini – the Middle East, Holy[…]
Haec Dies by William Byrd and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
A festive, rousing motet for this Christmas Day – or twelve days – by William Byrd, composed in 1591, here performed by the incomparable Voces8. Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea, alleluia. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. Alleluia. Indeed. Christus[…]
The Theology of Christmas Presents
(A classic by the master essayist, on why we give Christmas presents, for those of us who still sometimes wonder what is the point of it all. As Chesterton says, Christ is the first Christmas present, and, we may conclude, the gift of ourselves to another is the greatest gift of all. Ed.) Those modern[…]