Advent

Advent begins Dec. 1 this year. It can be easy to miss out on this liturgical season because of the hectic nature of the holidays. Here are five ways to observe these important weeks before Christmas. Make a Jesse tree Create your own Jesse…

by Lisa Klewicki When we think of Christmas, we often think of shopping, gifts, parties, and relatives visiting. Preparing for Christmas can be a stressful time. However stressful the preparations are, however, it is important to slow down…

The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated either on the 12th day after Christmas, Jan. 6, or on the first Sunday after Jan 1. Below are some ideas you can incorporate into your celebration this year, inspired by some…

The traditional icon of the Nativity is very different from what you usually find on Christmas cards, with Mary, baby Jesus, and St. Joseph clustered together in a barn over the manger.  From ancient times, the Nativity icon has been an…

Catholic liturgy has inspired composers for centuries. Classical luminaries such as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Berlioz have all composed sung Masses. Vespers services (that is, evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours) are among the…

While Inferno remains the most famous part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the poems’ two subsequent parts, Purgatorio and Paradiso are necessary for understanding Inferno in its entirety. Much like understanding only one part of the…

Now I am going to tell you about something that until I did this article I knew next to nothing about — Advent fasting customs of the Eastern Rite. All I knew is that the period of Advent starts way sooner than Advent in the West. Instead…

It’s not too late to take a tip on Christmas gift giving from two doctors of the Church: St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Teresa of Ávila. You can help a soul in purgatory reach heaven on Dec. 25. And — marking the eight days of the Octave of…

Russell died earlier this year. He was 63, but looked 10 years older. That’s what living in the woods will do to you. He was a big man physically and as I was to find out, he was a big man if you measured the kindness he showed to so many.…

The great medieval saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) famously said there are three ways of interpreting the Advent season. More specifically, the three ways of understanding the coming of Christ which the Advent season anticipates. For…