Most Fascinating Catholics of 2010
by Lisa Hendey in Reviews on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 6:00 AM
I’m marveling that a year has past since our last installment of my “most fascinating” Catholics. What began on a whim in 2008 has now become a terrific opportunity to take a look back, to celebrate and to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the many blessings of the year. Of course I’m still offering my friends at EWTN or CatholicTV to invite me to come sit on one of their comfy couches and interview the nominees (a la Barbara Walters, fuzzy focus and all!).
As always, it’s simply impossible to... READ MORE
O Come Let Us Adore Him
by Joseph Pronechen in Faith on Monday, December 27, 2010 10:51 AM
This article originally ran in this space last Christmas.
No display like a Nativity scene better captures the meaning of Christmas.
Elaborate or simple, in churches, homes or public places, crèches visualize the universal message of our Savior’s birth.
While many public municipal sites have stopped displaying them, the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Conn., is exhibiting many crèches in its annual Nativity show. The theme this year is “A Latino Christmas.”
What the Nativity means universally... READ MORE
A Tale of Two Families
by Tom and April Hoopes in Faith on Friday, December 24, 2010 6:00 AM
Sunday, Dec. 26, 2010, is the feast of the Holy Family (Liturgical Year A, Cycle I). Saturday, Jan. 1, is the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.
Family
This week was already going to be family week, because between Christmas and New Year’s so many people are home with their families. But it’s also a liturgical “family week”: the week following Holy Family Sunday.
We have two pieces of advice. First: Do a little planning. A recent study said that people who make an effort to step out of their... READ MORE
Keeping Christmas
by Danielle Bean in Faith on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 6:00 AM
A few years ago, the week before Christmas found me in a panic. In a last-minute fit of anxiety, I wiped the family calendar clean of all outside activities and, in bright red marker, wrote the words “CHRISTMAS BAKING” on Dec. 23.
I was determined: We would have rum balls. We would have chocolate-drizzled pretzels. We would have delicate butter cookies filled with gumdrop surprises. We would have gingerbread men sporting button-down shirts and darling bowties. We would have peanut-butter fudge,... READ MORE
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
by Daria Sockey in Faith on Monday, December 20, 2010 6:00 AM
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded,
for with blessing in his hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords in human vesture,
in the Body and the Blood
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way,
as the Light of Light descendeth
from the realms of endless... READ MORE
Every Day is Christmas
by Joseph Pronechen in Faith on Friday, December 17, 2010 6:00 AM
Soon will be the season to sing one of our most cherished carols: “Adeste Fideles — O Come Let Us Adore Him.”
This heartfelt carol should remind us that adoring Jesus isn’t limited to Christmastime. We can do that all year long at Eucharistic adoration. Just ask Lucy Gatza, coordinator for the daily adoration at Church of the Incarnation in Sarasota, Fla.
“At Christmas, when we look in the crib and at that beauty of the crèche, we’re all drawn to the central image: baby Jesus and his face. And we... READ MORE
You Cannot Steal My Joy
by Elizabeth Duffy in Faith on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 6:00 AM
My friend Pedge never yells at her children. I’ve been watching for many years, hoping to catch her in a weak moment. So many mothers yell, if for no other reason, to let witnesses know that they care about their child’s misbehavior. Not Pedge.
I’ve asked her husband, “So what really happens when we’re not here? Doesn’t she ever just go crazy?” No. Her husband attests, she does not raise her voice.
Irene and I asked her the other day, how she does it. What kind of superhuman power is required to... READ MORE
Have a B16 Christmas
by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Monday, December 13, 2010 6:00 AM
I write this column well ahead of time, so I have no idea if Pope Benedict XVI will delight Vatican pilgrims this Christmas season by donning the papal camauro, a traditional fur-trimmed red hat that both keeps His Holiness warm and evokes the image of St. Nicholas.
Papal audiences have grown so large since his election that Paul VI Hall, where cold-weather audiences used to be held, can no longer contain them, so he weathers the outdoors each week right through the winter — sometimes dressed as... READ MORE
Radical Advent Joy
by Tom and April Hoopes in Faith on Friday, December 10, 2010 6:00 AM
Sunday, Dec. 12, is the Third Sunday of Advent (Liturgical Year A, Cycle I), Gaudete (“rejoice”) Sunday.
Marian
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe isn’t celebrated this Dec. 12 because an Advent Sunday — Gaudete Sunday — takes precedence. However, the Vatican’s Directory on Popular Piety, which helps identify legitimate popular devotions, sums up Advent as a “Marian month” because Mary is at the center of the Christmas mystery.
So, make it a point to celebrate Our Lady today. Not because it’s the... READ MORE
Love Them Through Christmas
by Elizabeth Foss in Family on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 6:00 AM
It is generally acknowledged that the holiday season can be difficult for adults. This time of year, headlines at the newsstands tout all sorts of ways to “bust stress.” Ironically, one of the suggestions is often to look at the holiday through “the eyes of a child.” But holidays can be very stressful for children, too.
Consider the child who is anxious about whether or when he will see an estranged parent. Consider the child whose parent has an addiction. Consider the shy child who would really... READ MORE
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