One of the things I miss from my years in the Northern Hemisphere is the quiet Christmas. Snow on the ground tends to absorb sound making even the rumor of a passing car somewhat pleasant background noise. It is hard for northern people to imagine a summer Christmas or an autumn Easter. I remember someone (whose family hailed from Tirol) complaining about the unnatural feeling of having to seed their land while celebrating the harvest festival drinking beer produced six months prior. This upside … [Read more...]
Ponder In Your Hearts
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:16-20 NIV) Mary remembered … [Read more...]
It’s Christmas. Call Your Mother
Christmas is a good time to remember the words of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego: "Am I not here who Am Your Mother?" Those are tender words of a Mother to her baby, to that defenseless human being who cannot survive on his own. Recently, I saw a well intentioned poster depicting the Holy Family. Next to the image, in Spanish, were the words: "Navidad es ternura" (Christmas is tenderness) and that is true if we only center the attention in those cute images of baby Jesus under the gaze of his … [Read more...]
God’s man for Christmas
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 1:1)When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be … [Read more...]
The Blessed Virgin Mary did NOT have an “unplanned” pregnancy
There is a popular meme making the rounds on social media that attempts to make a clever point about the importance of being open to life. Showing an image of the Nativity, the meme states, “One unplanned pregnancy saved us all.” The problem is that not only is the meme untrue, but it reduces a sublime and divine event to a common and mundane situation.The fact of the matter is that the Incarnation was the most "planned" pregnancy in all of human history, and NOT just from God’s … [Read more...]
