Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
The feast of the Holy Innocents, which we celebrate appropriately enough within the octave of Christmas, might seem a troubling commemoration at first glance. Remembering the wholesale slaughter of all the male children two years and under, in and around Bethlehem? Why would God permit such a sacrifice? Yet this feast signifies certain theological principles[…]
BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS St Peter’s Square Sunday, 31 December 2006 Dear Brothers and Sisters, On this last Sunday of the year we are celebrating the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. I address with joy all the families of the world, wishing them the peace and love that Jesus brought us in coming[…]
Pope Benedict XVI offered three audiences on the Apostle John, back in 2006, and, concise as they are – a trait of the erudite Pontiff – they make for very rich and fruitful reading. Here is the first, the last, and the other two will also be posted. May the beloved Apostle intercede for you[…]
My friend Beverlee Trindl and I attended Aquinas Dominican High School on Chicago’s south side. Our senior year we were asked by the choir director to compose a new carol for St. Joseph to be debuted in our upcoming Christmas pageant. Bev, a gifted pianist, and I had teamed up for other school events which[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter’s Square Wednesday, 2 May 2012 [Video] Dear Brothers and Sisters, In our recent Catecheses we have seen how through personal and community prayer the interpretation of and meditation on Sacred Scripture open us to listening to God who speaks to us and instils light in us so that we[…]
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1) Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. As we celebrate Christmas, these words from the prologue of the Gospel of St. John invite us to approach the Feast of the Incarnation by contemplating the divinity of the Christ Child. As we sing[…]
Christmas Eve is the traditional commemoration of Adam and Eve, our first parents – I don’t think there’s any etymological connection between Eve and Eve, the first derived from ye Olde English ǣfnung, which means towards sunset, the end of the day. The name Eve is an English transliteration of her Hebrew name given by[…]
Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol was first published on this December 19 back in 1843, and it has been a much beloved classic ever since. It is really is an Advent story, as are most Christmas stories, and songs, as Stephen White recently wrote. Just as most marriage films are really ‘engagement’ films –[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 20 December 2006 The meaning of Christmas Dear Brothers and Sisters, “The Lord is close: come, let us adore him”. With this invocation, the liturgy invites us in these last days of Advent to approach as it were on tip-toe the Bethlehem Grotto where the extraordinary event that[…]
A Christmas Reflection on Evil, Freedom, and Redemption in Bad Santa Editors’ note: the film reviewed below contains explicit sexual and violent scenes, sustained crudity and profane humor. This review is not meant to serve as a recommendation, but rather as an example of the application of Christian principles to morally disordered narratives to seek[…]
