Blessing of a Christmas Manger or Nativity Scene

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(The following text is taken from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers, 82-84) In its present form the custom of displaying figures depicting the birth of Jesus Christ owes its origin to St. Francis of Assisi, who made the Christmas crèch...
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The Immaculate Conception: A Celebration of Salvation

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While the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th marks an event of the utmost importance in salvation history, it is not without its conceptual and emotional difficulties. Conceptually the difficulties arise du...
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The Advent Wreath’s Lesson on Virtue

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In each Season of the Church’s liturgical life, she provides us with unique resources that nourish our growth in holiness. Among these resources stored in the vast treasure house of graces of the Church one finds the sacramentals. All too often ...
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Thomas Merton on the Unity of All Things in the Love of Christ

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A man cannot enter into the deepest center of himself and pass through that center into God, unless he is able to pass entirely out of himself and empty himself and give himself to other people in purity of a selfless love (New Seeds of Contempl...
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Christifying Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving Table Blessing

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The celebration of Thanksgiving naturally lends itself to being understood by Christians through a Christocentric, or, more to it, Eucharistic lens. The reason for this stems from the straightforward linguistic connection, the English eucharist ...
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