Second Sunday of Advent: The Baptist, Newman and Preparing for the Lord
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Lk. 3:4). ⧾
The Gospel of the Mass on this second Sunday of Advent introduces...
Words Aren’t Weightless: A Poem
Words Aren’t Weightless
“Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words will never hurt me”
Tell that to the lasting tone of a stone
Their syntax sticks
My...
Sunday Musical Offering: Three Emmanuels
For our Sunday musical offering, three versions of the ancient Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, dating back 1200 years to monastic traditions...
Third Sunday of Advent: Rejoice, in Integrity and Constancy
The Lord your God, is in your midst…He will renew you in His love (Zeph. 3:17). ⧾
The third Sunday of Advent is known as...
Sunday Musical Offering: Jean Mouton’s Nesciens Mater
Jean Mouton (1459 - 1522) was a French priest, canon and, like Vivaldi (also ordained), a prolific composer, well ahead of his time in...
Listen: A Poem
Listen
Everything is loud, until you listen.
If you couldn’t speak, what would you do?
What would you notice?
The miracles of Christ or Christ?
Hume said, “The Son...
The O Antiphons and the Latter Days of Advent
On December 17th we begin the seven days of proximate preparation for Christmas, analogous to the more familiar twelve days of Christmas, which follow...
The Fourth Sunday of Advent: With Haste, Let Us Meet the Lord
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled (Lk. 1:45).
On this the fourth and last...
Pope Benedict’s Final Advent Angelus
(What follows is Pope Benedict XVI's last Advent Angelus address as Pope, in 2012. A couple of months later, in February, 2013, he would...
Mary, Ever Virgin, Yet Mother of All
In these latter days of Advent, our focus, liturgically and devotionally, is on Our Lady, expectant, preparing to give birth to the One who...