Twice a year, on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays[1], the priest dons rose-colored vestments for mass. In spite of what he might think about wearing that color (and there’s always someone cracking a joke about it) — I love seeing it. I love its rosy warmth and the way it breaks into the somber violet of […]
FINDING NEW MEANING IN THE CHRISTMAS TREE
In the winter of 1510, the merchants of Riga, Latvia, hauled a tree into the center of the marketplace. They decorated it with roses, symbol of the Virgin Mary. They danced around the tree in celebration of the Christ-child’s birth, and then they set it alight in a blaze of glory. That was the first […]
WISHING YOU A BLESSED CHRISTMAS SEASON
Many of our neighbors are putting their lights and decorations away, but for us Catholics, Christmas has just begun! It started with the Christmas vigil masses and continues through the next three Sundays: The Feast of the Holy Family on December 30 Epiphany on January 6 The Feast of Jesus’ Baptism on January 1 […]
I CHOOSE JOY!
I almost didn’t buy it. Half-buried in a tangle of costume jewelry, the pin sat in a dish by the cash register. “Your pick, $5” said the sign. “Junk,” I muttered — then looked again. Three rhinestone capitals winked a message: JOY! Best $5 jewelry purchase ever. I wear it every year—on my sweatshirts and […]
WHAT SHALL I GIVE HIM? Last-Minute Presents for Jesus
Is Jesus on your Christmas giving list? If you haven’t thought about it yet, here are some ideas for your last-minute “shopping” based on the gifts brought to Jesus by the Magi. 1. Give him gold This one’s pretty obvious — what can you give of your treasure? Maybe you already give an extra check […]
THE “JESSE TREE”: AN ADVENT TRADITION FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
When a new star shone bright enough that grown men (wise men? kings?) saddled up, dropped everything else and set out for the tiny town of Bethlehem, it didn’t herald something unexpected. The king it announced had been expected for centuries! Jesus’s birth was not “Plan B,” some sort of last-ditch effort to save the […]
LONGING FOR JESUS: Advent’s “O Antiphons”
Every time we see our granddaughter, the first minutes are taken up with a clamor of voices. “Good morning! How’s my little poppet?” “Hi Sweetness, hello Sunshine. “How’s the pretty baby?” Grown-up faces crowd around her, smiling, praising her red cheeks, her new tooth, the way she waves. Instinctively, we use the high sing-song of […]
LESSONS FROM THE MAGI: Finding Jesus in unlikely places
I can’t stop thinking about the Epiphany this week, as I — like the Magi — seek to find Jesus. The English poet T.S. Eliot imagined how those traveling kings might have looked back on their experience, years later. His poem is worth reading several times to catch the references in the second stanza: The Journey of […]
ADVENT 4, CELEBRATING LIGHT: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Here He Comes! Advent anticipation moved up a notch this week with the start of the “Golden Nights of Advent,” the octave leading up to Christmas Eve. Beginning the evening of December 17, religious communities in monasteries and convents all over the world sing one of the beautiful “O Antiphons” before and after the Magnificat during […]
ADVENT 3, PROCLAIMING JOY: “Joy to the World!”
From where I lay on the third floor under the eaves, I could hear the piano. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” My aunt was visiting, and she thundered away without thinking of the children above, who were meant to be sleeping. Dum – dum – dah-dum … dah-dum – dum – dum! […]
