The Love, Peace and Happiness of Christmas

The future looms as we near the end of another trip around the sun. And while it is deck the halls time, it also behooves us to look at the year ahead. Prepping for the celebration of Christ’s birth, we should ask ourselves how we’re going to build our spiritual …

The season of Advent is filled with unique symbols, colors, and liturgical oddities. If we know a bit about them, then we can share them with others. More than that, a knowledge of these “signs of the time” can make Advent a season of genuine peace and holy preparation. The …

Are you ready for the Christmas Crazy? We are down to the wire. Christmas is rushing into our lives sooner then we want. It seems like yesterday when we were eating turkey and believing we had all the time in the world to make Christmas. But not so! We are …

La temporada de Adviento, en la cual entramos en diciembre, es un período de espera vigilante en preparación para el Nacimiento del Señor en Navidad. En esto, como en tantas cosas, la Iglesia es contracultural. ¡Algunas tiendas han estado decorando para Navidad desde antes de Halloween! Es común cada año, …

The season of Advent, which we enter in December, is a period of watchful waiting in preparation for the Nativity of the Lord at Christmas. In this, as in so many things, the Church is counter-cultural. Some stores have been decorating for Christmas since before Halloween! It is common during …

Q: Was Christ born on Dec. 25 in the year A.D. 1? A: We cannot be sure of the day and month, nor the year, of Jesus’ birth. Many scholars date the Nativity to several years before the traditional first year of the Lord (Anno Domini or A.D. 1) This …

It’s Thanksgiving dinner. You look around the table and see, once again, your beloved, dysfunctional family. While you would like to imagine that you and your family are the perfect, loving family, around this turkey is a spicy mix of selfishness, negativism, pride, and a pinch of bitterness. I offer …

October 2018 My Dear Friends in Christ, On November 18, the Church will once again celebrate a World Day of the Poor. In his message for the occasion, Pope Francis directs us to reflect upon what it means to “hear the cry of the poor” (cf. Ps 34). He exclaims: …

I have a confession to make. In my focus on how to discuss the teachings of the church with others, I have neglected an important first step: Evangelization. I touched on it when I wrote about my beard evangelizing people. (It’s true, see my column for July: Click here). But, …