This past week we celebrated the Solemnity of Christmas. Two days beforehand I was the unlucky recipient of a severe head cold, and subsequently dragged myself deliriously through the festivities. A day or two after Christmas (after developing laryngitis), I happened upon the Holy Father’s homily from Midnight Mass [1], and was immediately brought back […]

Like a lot of other Christian families, my mother has a tradition of leaving the creche empty until Christmas night, when the figure of the baby Jesus is laid in the manger. When we get back from midnight Mass on Christmas night, somehow Mom always makes sure that the baby Jesus miraculously “appears” in the […]

  Yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. Out of the entire year, the Mass readings for this day (from all three cycles)[1] have always struck a distinct chord in me. The very first reading this year I consider to be one of the most compelling verses in all of Scripture: “The spirit […]

  Behind all the different themes, everything I have been “musing” about these past couple of months seem to be about the same thing: becoming holy so we can be as close to God as possible. Embracing the Cross, living out mercy, facing each day with “new eagerness,” being present in today, striving to be […]

  “Christmastime is here…” It’s official. Everyone is getting the shopping bug and the sound of Christmas songs have begun to blare from every store radio. But it’s not the Christmas season. It’s Advent. How have we become such a busy people that we have forgotten this incredibly beautiful time of preparation? I think we […]