Entries for 2024

Source Christmas is more than a single day—it’s a season of joy that begins on December 25 and continues through the days to follow. Within the Church, it’s a season that spans the 12 Days of Christmas, culminating in the Feast of the Epiphany. The Christmas season celebrates...

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Source How to ready one’s heart to welcome the Christ Child. Joseph Pronechen Features December 10, 2017 “Advent is a time of waiting, conversion and of hope,” the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the...

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Source The Holy Innocents are the children mentioned in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 2:16-18. Herod, perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry, and sent his soldiers to kill all male children ages two and under that were in Bethlehem and on the boarders, according t...

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Source This feast day honors Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and St. Joseph as the holiest of families, and therefore a model for all Christian families. They were holy because they placed God at the center of their family life, they loved and sacrificed for one another, and they radiated that love to...

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Source An elder Mexican man makes his way to Mass in the early morning twilight of December 9, 1531. He is a peasant, a simple farmer and laborer, and he has no education. Born under Aztec rule, he is a convert to Catholicism, and each step he takes this morning is a step into history. The mor...

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Source "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin." In 1854, Pope Pius IX's so...

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Source What is the true meaning of Advent? What is the best way to prepare for Christmas? You’re free to do what you know will help you prepare the best. If decorating and so forth does not help you prepare for the coming of Christ, you can be the judge of whether it’s worth doing. F...

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Source Beginning the Church's liturgical year, Advent (from, "ad-venire" in Latin or "to come to") is the season encompassing the four Sundays (and weekdays) leading up to the celebration of Christmas. The Advent season is a time of preparation that direc...

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Source For those living in the United States, November is the month that we celebrate the federal holiday of Thanksgiving. This American holiday traces its roots back to the Pilgrims’ first autumn harvest. It was a means of giving thanks to God for the gifts of his creation. The center of t...

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