Pope Benedict XVI's recent Christmas messages

On Christmas eve, the Holy Father gave a special address to the UK where he said,

  Our thoughts turn back to a moment in history when God's chosen people, the children of Israel, were living in intense expectation.
  They were waiting for the Messiah that God had promised to send and they pictured him as a great leader who would rescue them from foreign domination and restore their freedom.
  God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them.

Full audio and transcription available courtesy of BBC news.

He also gave a Christmas message to Rome and the universal Church, and he began with these words:

  Dear brothers and sisters listening to me here in Rome and throughout the world, I joyfully proclaim the message of Christmas: God became man; he came to dwell among us. God is not distant: he is “Emmanuel”, God-with-us. He is no stranger: he has a face, the face of Jesus.

Read more at The Telegraph

It is amusing what happened when I googled for 'christmas message, pope', where I found these headlines and subtitles from various media sources:

• Chinese government publication lambasts pope for Christmas remarks..
• Pope condemns 'oppressors' in Christmas message..
• Pope's Christmas message admonishes China..
• Pope urges tolerance in Christmas message..

and so on. Could it be that this is how this went right past many people? How sad, to miss the core of his message for Christmas: the Word became flesh (he repeats that four times).

He ends his address by saying, "Dear brothers and sisters, “the Word became flesh”; he came to dwell among us; he is Emmanuel, the God who became close to us. Together let us contemplate this great mystery of love; let our hearts be filled with the light which shines in the stable of Bethlehem! To everyone, a Merry Christmas!" May it be that this message planted seeds in all who read it in full.

In pursuit of the perfect Christmas

At the family Christmas vigil a few hours ago, Fr. Michael told us the story of what was to be a perfect Christmas Mass set up by a new parish priest. But there was a mishap involving the children playing Mary and Joseph, and the doll they were carrying to the manger. Despite the priest's consternation, all was well that ended better, for the following day, the sight of the doll in the manger, patched up of its bruising here and there (from the mishap with the hard floor surface), elicited serious reflection from mothers, fathers and children, who realized that they were broken here and there, too. And the fact that God was made flesh, got cut up and seriously bruised along the way to the perfect moment of redemption, was incredible in its simple statement of Hope. Even his beginnings were less than perfect, born as he was in a manger -- the King of Kings!

A Christmas break

Merry Christmas to any who might venture into this blog! I myself am taking a bit of a break to spend time with my family. I need to compete well against the dazzle of toys, commercials and shopping malls, so my kids might retain a clearer picture of what Christmas is about. :-)

Dad, you forgot to put the baby Jesus back in!

Yeah, I did. Little Francis noticed the day after. Not that I meant to, of course, but one of my other kids got so close to breaking it that I had to tuck it away, supposedly until Christmas day. But, naturally, I forgot about it. It probably wasn't a good idea to put it away so out of sight though. Which explains why I ended up forgetting to put it back in.

Which might explain why the same thing happens to lots of people. Even confessing Catholics and Christians forget about Christ when they find a pet cause and put that in the center of their lives. Think world hunger, the environment, self-esteem, feminism, patriotism, getting along with everyone else, political correctness -- it could be anything. And Jesus falls out of the picture and.. well, then all sorts of nuttiness comes from it. Luckily, the Lord is not a willing victim to that. He was done with that on Calvary, but now -- for our sake, not his -- he makes sure that he is being offered someplace to the world that thinks it doesn't need him. That's when you can be sure that it really needs him. And so we have Pope Benedict XVI. And we have wonderful (and typically Pentecostal) Evangelicals -- be they Catholic or Protestant. And we have mothers and children. And even when the world distills Christmas down to its bare jolly-elf-Santa and commercial Christmas-season-at-the-malls shadows, the world still gets more than it bargains for. Not that I like either versions of Christmas, but some osmosis might do secularists some good when, at the back of their minds, they mull over what Christmas really means or what is the point of giving love on Christmas. They might miss the point one year after another, but perhaps this Christmas is different. God willing, they'll have the baby Jesus in it this time.

Thanks to Jimmy Akin's blog where I found the nice painting that goes with this blog post.

Celebrating Christmas

Merry Christmas to any and all who visit this blog. May God's blessings rain down upon you, perhaps in ways exceeding what you may have prayed for:

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1,1-18. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'" From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him.

Readings from Dailygospel.org.

Looking for the Mother in the birth of the Son

Interesting article: "Looking for Mary in Christmas Carols" by Michael Linton. With so much stacked against honoring the Blessed Mother, one might suspect a bias leading away from the Incarnation. After all, isn't Mama Mary that link between the Son of God and the Son of Man? The former was from the beginning, whereas the latter may actually be traced to a particular event. I recently read about an Evangelical maintaining that the Lord was not formed from Mary's human material, apparently not even her ovum. Those who believe this is perhaps simply making sure that man makes no boast about his contribution to our salvation. But it is certainly a false notion, which also jettisons the Incarnation completely.

p>[Link found via Catholic Report.]

Mary is crucial to Christmas and the Incarnation

Explained well -- by a Lutheran pastor!

The angst of Christmas shopping

It started well enough. There was a great big sign on the wall that said 'hope' and 'joy' right outside. And then I went inside, greeted by a mammoth crowd. It only got worse going into the usual mega-stores with the biggest range of toys. I hate crowds to begin with. I also hate shopping when I actually have to buy something. In this season, it only gets worse. Everything screams "buy me!" and the displays fairly reek of material gratification. It wasn't long before I worked myself up to a startling realization: having been unwittingly drawn into the present trap in years past, there is now a bit of pressure to outdo previous presents. The kids are growing up, after all, and they do see the commercials and the catalogs. They know what's out there, and what else is a child to think when they see all those wondrous toys, but that they are meant to have all these things?

And an endless trap it is. There will always be something flashier, with more features, more umph, edgier, etc. What have I gotten my children into?

Advent, preparation and peace

I would invite all to read this thought- and prayer-provoking writeup by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio over at Catholic Exchange.

St. Nicholas

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas, 4th century bishop of Myra (in modern day Turkey) and whose person was the basis for modern-day Santa Claus: from the dutch "Sinter Klaus" to the American Santa Claus. While children adore the latter, there is nothing like the real deal. Far from being a mere giver of presents, he is a saint who now favors us with prayers on our behalf. He remains a patron of children, and is still known as he was (not as modern culture has turned him into) in some countries in Europe. CatholicCulture.org and Domestic-Church.Com have some good references about him, which I invite you to read.