See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. The entire cosmos speaks of Christ, announces his coming, yet only a few dare look to the … Continue reading
Christmas
In Dulci Jubilo
It might be tempting to treat the upcoming weekend as just another regular ol’ weekend. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day have gone. Friends and family are away. Most have gone back to work or will be soon. In fact, … Continue reading
The Subversive Shoot
Christmas is subversive. The eternal, immutable, transcendent, and all-good and powerful Triune God deigned to descend from the heavens and take on our very flesh. He was conceived in the womb of a virgin. Mary’s womb became a tabernacle wherein … Continue reading
St. John’s Advice
There are few saints more esteemed than St. John the Evangelist. He was one of Jesus’ closest disciples; he witnessed the transfiguration; he stayed at the foot of the Cross when the other disciples fled; he took care of Mary … Continue reading
What Child Is This?
What child is this? This child born this morning, born to no acclaim, born in a dwelling meant for cattle, what is he? Ignored by the world but acclaimed by the angels, who is he? As the classic Christmas carol … Continue reading
A New Song
A New Song Sing to the Lord a new song.– Psalm 96:1 Carols are a staple of the Christmas season, and I’m sure everyone will be singing at least a couple today. They can be an effective way to help … Continue reading
“Thy Dear Love Can Slay”
There is a story about how St. John of the Cross celebrated Christmas: “On Christmas day . . . St. John of the Cross, while at ease with his brethren at recreation, took the image of the Holy Infant from … Continue reading
Recognizing the Lord
As the first season of the new liturgical year, Advent possesses a twofold character. Having just ended the liturgical year celebrating the solemnity of Jesus Christ reigning over the universe in glory, we begin the cycle again with a dynamic … Continue reading
Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on November 29, 2012. Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk was ordained to the priesthood in May 2017 and now serves as the Vocations Director for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. This Sunday, the … Continue reading
A God Who Cannot Feel
In this season of penance, we ask God to have mercy. Human mercy involves compassion, looking upon someone’s misery and feeling it as your own. But God, in his eternity, can’t feel misery—he can’t feel anything. I don’t mean that … Continue reading
Why Saint Nicholas Matters
In our shared human experience, we frequently find ourselves carrying other people’s burdens, seeking, if we can, to alleviate them, with others doing the same for us. This is mercy. By showing mercy, we take another’s misery and seek to … Continue reading
Baptized Beyond Nature
Some think that to be a Muslim, it is sufficient simply to be born, or to be born to a Muslim father. Likewise, some think that to be a Jew, it is sufficient to be born to a Jewish mother. … Continue reading
The Twelve Days of Emmanuel
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means, God with us) (Mt 1:23) The joy of Christmas is the joy of Emmanuel. Our God is not distant from us: he … Continue reading
The Eyes of the Heart
“Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.” In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella The Little Prince, a wise fox whispers this secret into the Prince’s ear. … Continue reading
Hardly Idyllic
The Holy Family had a rough start, don’t you think? To begin with, it almost ended before it started. Mary was found to be with child, in a pregnancy planned by God but unplanned by men. So “Joseph, being a … Continue reading
The Face of an Angel
Yesterday we celebrated the birth of the Son of God. Today we remember the death of a man. Through Advent we watched for the coming of God, before being surprised to see angelic hosts and to hear the cry of … Continue reading
I Spy with My Little Eye
And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger… And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Lk 2:16, … Continue reading
Cold Comfort
Ebenezer Scrooge, visited already by several Spirits, “was ready for a good broad field of strange appearances…nothing between a baby and rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.” I’ve had the pleasure of thinking about Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol … Continue reading
Christmas Shopping
What hath Christ to do with Versace? I remember a Christmas morning interview with Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, on The Today Show. Asked how he felt living on 5th Avenue, in the heart of a world-renowned shopping … Continue reading
Bethlehem Donkeys
Since I was little, I’ve known that the way to Bethlehem is best traveled “con mi burrito sabanero” (with my little savannah donkey). I first learned this from a Venezuelan Christmas carol (here with English subtitles) that sings: Con mi … Continue reading
The Dissolving and Splitting of Solid Things
Throwback Tuesday He stood alone on the stones, his mess-tin spilled at his feet. Out of the vortex, rifling the air it came – bright, brass-shod, Pandoran; with all-filling screaming the howling crescendo’s up-piling snapt. The universal world, breath held, … Continue reading
Dwindled Infinity
It is not uncommon for the priory where I live in Washington, D.C. to host guests for dinner. On occasion, our guests will be a family. From time to time, that family will include a baby. Seeing a baby become … Continue reading
A New Christmas Album
Christ Was Born to Save: Christmas with the Dominican Friars Nearly seven hundred years ago, a Dominican friar named Henry Suso had a vision of angels singing and dancing with joy about the birth of the Infant Jesus. The German … Continue reading