Gospel Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family Every one of us, to greater or lesser degree, feels the need to leave our mark on history. We wish our lives would never end; we fear falling into the oblivion of forgetfulness, of being forgotten. And we often...
We’re not just happy that Jesus was born on December 25. We’re always happy about His coming while we look forward to His second coming! It might only be one time a year that we focus on His birth, specifically, but it’s something we always hold in our hearts. During...
“Consider, oh man, what God became for your sake; understand this lesson of surpassing humility presented by a teacher who, as yet, says no word.” - Saint Augustine The word “to promise” means to put in motion. And a promise is the way in which we put our lives in...
If you were to walk through the narrative of the Nativity story, you’d know it pretty well, right? That’s not a trick question, because I agree, we all know it very well. But what if the reason why we know it so well isn’t just because we’ve heard it year in, year out...
Since the beginning, Christian artists tended to reflect the theological developments that were going on at the time. Before the Nativity theme, for example, it was the Adoration of the Magi that first appeared in the 3rd century. In the background, we find the...
I’m sorry that we used such a click-baity title because really we just want you to have the best Christmas possible. So here are 7 ways you (might) be doing Christmas (a little bit) wrong. But better still, here are 7 ways to make your Christmas holier, happier and...
Christmas is a time where we are invited to open our hearts up to Christ, a time to allow Him to be born within us. Today's video looks at offering you 4 ways to embrace this invitation. We invite you to watch Father's video, then prayerfully read the Gospel and...
During the holiday season, it’s so very easy to get caught up in the pretty packages, Christmas movies, hot cocoa, and the endless lists filled with names of all the people dear to us that it’s easy to forget what we are celebrating. While these things are wonderful,...
TXT Stories has created this cute video that imagines how things would have gone if the Angel Gabriel had communicated via text message. Of course, this isn't accurate, but it is funny, and it might be just the thing some of us need to take our minds off of Christmas...
Do you ever just skim through a Bible passage in order to get to the "good" part? Quickly scan the details to find the heart of the story? That's a habit that is necessary to break. Every word in the Bible carries significance and meaning, even those we just see as...
Mary was “set apart” for a very specific mission. Sometimes, I feel set apart, too. You know, set apart from friends on a Friday night, watching and memorizing my favorite 90’s rom coms for... well, I’m sure I’ll need those quotes one day. Or out to dinner with my...
Reality is continually asking us questions. It always asks us to choose. And, through our decisions, we show who we truly are. It’s a process we can’t back out of. Once in a while, we may feel a desire to escape from this unavoidable call to manifest who we...
One of the wonderful things about both the Advent and Christmas seasons is the abundance of beautiful hymns and carols. They’re made more special by the fact that they can only be sung once a year! But even so, we can still be overly familiar with some of the more...
Advent is a time to prepare your heart for Jesus' coming at Christmas, as well as to prepare others around you to receive Him as their Savior. Especially with the non-Catholics and non-Christians in your life, how can you use this season of grace to help others open...
We know we can always count on our priests to be present at Mass and all the liturgical celebrations around the holidays. We watch the deacon assist during sacraments and parish life. We proudly acknowledge the hard work and preparation seminarians undergo for the...
Advent is a wonderful time to examine your heart and your prayer life, and to make small changes that can set you on a new trajectory of hope in the year ahead. We invite you to watch Father's video, then prayerfully read the Gospel and reflection. We pray that this...
“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea Every path needs a starting point. In order to leave port, a ship must lose its mooring; in order...
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painted this stunning depiction of the Virgin Mary in 1767-1768. The work was part of a project of seven altarpieces commissioned by King Charles III of Spain for the new Church of San Pascual, under construction in Aranjuez. A Breathtaking...
Have your Christmas tree all set up? Take some time as Family to ask for God's blessing over it! The use of the Christmas tree is relatively modern. Its origins are found in the medieval mystery plays that depicted the tree of paradise and the Christmas light or...
Once you have your Nativity Scene all set up, take some time to ask for God's blessing as a family. In its present form, the custom of displaying figures depicting the birth of Jesus Christ owes its origin to St. Francis of Assisi, who made the Christmas crèche or...
“Man is a rope stretched between the animals and the 'overman'” ~ Nietzsche Anthony De Melo once asked, “What is the difference between a sinner and a saint?” Smiling, he responded, “None! They are both sinners; it’s just that the saint knows it.” We spend a great...
This year's Advent season will be the shortest possible Advent. With Christmas on a Monday, the fourth week of Advent is only one day! This means that you need to make the most of your twenty-two days of preparation for the Birth of Christ. We have five incredible...
I love C.S Lewis’ book ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’, and I think I love it more as an adult than when I read it as a child. If you haven’t read the book, I want to say: please read it! It is a subtle yet powerful allegory of Christianity, set in an...
October 16th and 17th (in the post- and pre-conciliar liturgical calendars, respectively) mark the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. It is from this beautiful saint that the Church and the world came to practice the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Under the...