Merry Christmas!

What a great gift to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ this Sunday! I would like to share with you something that is not very well known, but read or chanted at Mass during the Night each Christmas. It is simply titled, “The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and it recounts the historical setting in which the Nativity occurs.

A seminary professor of mine once said, “Don’t confuse enthusiasm for a virtue with the virtue itself.” How easy it’s been in my life as a priest to talk about the greatest of virtues — love — and totally fail to live up to its concrete demands!

Happy Sunday!

Gaudete! Rejoice! This Sunday the universal Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. This name comes from the entrance antiphon for the Mass in which we hear, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.”

Happy Sunday!

It is great to be in the season of Advent! Last Sunday began the new liturgical year as we anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. The prayers of the Mass, the antiphons, and readings are full of joyful expectation.

Merry Christmas!

What a great gift to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ this Sunday! I would like to share with you something that is not very well known, but read or chanted at Mass during the Night each Christmas. It is simply titled, “The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and it recounts the historical setting in which the Nativity occurs.