St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
by VP
Posted on Saturday December 27, 2025 at 04:00AM in Saints
Last Supper, Juan de Juanes
"Saint John having been the most beloved disciple of Jesus, and having loved to repose on the bosom of his divine Master; we may well study on this his festival, how to regulate our love of creatures, so that we may never be separated by them from the love of our Creator and Redeemer. Though we have permitted us in this life, the use of creatures; though they are allowed in their due degree and the being pleased with them cannot be separated from that use which is permitted; yet to love them is dangerous, and exposes the soul to the hazard of resting on them instead of on Christ. It is, therefore, a nice point to use and enjoy creatures and the goods of this life, and yet not to love them; at least, not so as to prejudice that love and rest which we ought to have in Christ. Yet thus it ought to be, because we are not to transgress the eternal decrees of God; who having given all creatures for our use and convenience, allows us not to give our hearts to them, but has reserved these for himself.
There is no less difficulty on the other side, as to things that displease us. For though we are here in this life exposed to variety of necessities; though we see ourselves destitute of all human comfort; though we suffer loss of goods and friends; though we see the world armed against us; though there be a succession of evils attending our whole lives; yet it is not allowed us, under the oppression of the most weighty afflictions, to lose our comfort and rest in Christ, but in His breast we are ever to repose. Those are the conditions for obtaining the love of Jesus, hard enough to our corrupt nature, and yet not to be dispensed with.
While all pretend to this love, how few are solicitous to put themselves in the dispositions of being capable of it? Only those, who keep that guard upon their hearts, as not to admit of any such excess, in things that either please or displease them, as to let love or fear, content or trouble, take them from the sacred breast of their Redeemer. And now, if the breasts of all were to be this day laid open, is it not to be feared that there would be very few, whose hearts would be found thus resting in Jesus? We are placed in this world for the gaining a better; we have the use of creatures allowed us, and we too often let these so occupy our hearts, as to leave but little place for the love of our eternal good. We pervert them into the occasions of sin, and make them instruments of our exclusion from the sight of God.
It is the remedy of this abuse that we are to pray for this day, that no concern for what is created, may take place of our Creator. God must be the principal object of our love: other things are to be loved only for Him, or in Him. Whenever any affection, though of things
most innocent and lawful, arises to that degree, as to take off our
concern from God and his commandments, all such love is injurious to our
greater interest, and we cannot truly say that we rest in Christ. God
likewise is to be the principal object of our fear and whenever we indulge our trouble so far, as to remove all fear of losing God, all such trouble is immoderate and sinful; and cannot be permitted, but by forsaking the resting-place of this apostle. How very apprehensive then ought Christians to be of these growing passions; for playing with them is jesting with eternity. To pray for the love of Jesus, and not to labour in cutting off the occasions of these
passions, is to run from Jesus, and yet pray that they may come to Him.
Teach us then, O blessed Redeemer, so to regulate all our affections,
that neither the love of what we possess, nor the trouble for what we want, may ever arise to such excess, as to separate us from thee." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
The Holy Mother
by VP
Posted on Saturday December 27, 2025 at 12:00AM in Meditations for Christmas
The Virgin Mary with the Christ child, surrounded by angel's heads. Engraving by C.D. Jardinier after C. Hutin after C. Maratta.
"By the side of the manger where the Infant lies, His Mother is watching. Who is she ?
1. A poor and humble maiden, but nevertheless the Mother of God. The Mother of God! How can this be ? How can the Eternal, Infinite God have a human mother? Yet so it is; Mary has a privilege which raises her immeasurably above the highest of the seraphim. It makes her more perfect in her likeness to God than is possible to any other creature. If, then, we honor the saints and angels, how much more should we honor God's own Mother !
2. Yet Mary has a still greater claim to our homage, a more fruitful source of blessedness even than the divine maternity. Her unswerving obedience to the inspirations of God is declared by Our Lord Himself to be a still higher privilege. "Yea, rather blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it." If only we realized the blessedness of unswerving obedience, how different our lot would be !
3. What are Mary's thoughts as she sits watching there? She has no thought save of God. She is absorbed in Him. The hours pass like minutes, they are a sort of anticipation of Paradise. She sees her God face to face, and though His glory is veiled under the robe of flesh, yet Mary can pierce through it as none else ever could, and can bask in the Divinity which it conceals. O God, help me to realize now Thy presence when Thou art veiled under the sacramental species. "
Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
St. Stephen, The First Martyr.
by VP
Posted on Friday December 26, 2025 at 04:00AM in Saints
"He was the first of the deacons chosen by the apostles; and the Scripture says that he was full of faith and the Holy Ghost. Pray that all those who are chosen to any ministry in the Church may be men of this character, and blessed with these gifts, for on this depends the good of the Church, and of innumerable souls.
A supernatural wisdom, and the Spirit of God, directed St. Stephen in all his disputes with the enemies of his faith. Pray for the same heavenly assistance, both for yourself and all others, as often as charity to your neighbour and duty to truth shall oblige to the like engagements: and remember that patience and moderation best become the advocates of truth.
He bore with the malice of his adversaries with a wonderful courage: pray that this may be a pattern to you and all others, when called to any part of these trials.
St. Stephen prayed for his enemies who stoned him. Pray and endeavour that the like charity may ever accompany you, and all others, under the most severe provocations. Be constant in practicing it in ordinary trials; this is the surest way of not failing in greater.
St. Stephen having been chosen by the apostles one of the first deacons, his diligence and fidelity to his charge were edifying to the faithful. His power in working great wonders and miracles rendered him eminent to all people, so that he became the instrument of great conversions; the number of disciples multiplying very considerably in Jerusalem, and a great number of the Jewish priests becoming obedient to the faith. This zeal of his, thus happy in so plentiful a harvest of souls, gave disturbance to the enemies of his faith; and exciting their envy, led them to unwarrantable resolutions of obliging him to silence by their false reasoning; and if this should prove ineffectual, of accomplishing their designs by false accusations and malice. Here is a consoling example of a disciple's zeal, and one as terrible of blind and obstinate passion.
Whoever undertakes to be Christ's disciple, must expect opposition. Happy they, who by their zealous labours, or edifying regularity in themselves and their families, give occasion to adversaries to be jealous of them, and put them upon malicious contrivances to lessen their fame to the world, to prevent the fruit of their good example. Such as these are the sweet odour of Christ. Their piety, labours, and justice ascend like incense before him. They are blessed in what they do, and more blessed still in what they suffer; being in both true followers of their Master, whose character is comprised in these few words, of doing good to all, and suffering evil from all with patience.
St. Stephen being brought by false accusations before the tribunal, with great courage and liberty of spirit, gave an account of his faith: but neither the evidence of miracles nor reason could satisfy those, who thirsted not for truth, but for his blood. Therefore seeing themselves disappointed, they hurry him with violence out of Jerusalem, and there discharge their malice against him, by stoning him to death. And as, a little before his execution, he had the comfort of seeing Heaven open before him, and Jesus standing at the right hand of his Father; so now he gives proof of being his disciple, by praying for those who stoned him. They had malice in their hearts; and he, perfect charity in his: they threw stones and death at him; he sent up prayers to heaven for them: he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and so expired.
This was the wonderful charity of this first martyr. It is this, for which the Church prays on this festival, and it ought to be the subject of every one's prayer in particular. Bow down, therefore, before your God this day: acknowledge all your past transgressions in the breach of charity;
and leave not your prayers, till you have obtained a new spirit, by
which you may ever live in peace with all, forgiving all injuries, as
you desire to be forgiven. Beg this spirit of Jesus, and beseech this martyr to join with you, for obtaining what you ask on this day, on which he set you so great an example." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
The New-born Child
by VP
Posted on Friday December 26, 2025 at 12:00AM in Meditations
Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre
(1714–1789) 
"In the cradle before us lies the new-born
Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in the manger. Let us
contemplate Him for a few moments and see what lessons He teaches us.
1.
He teaches us the unspeakable force of divine charity. How was it
possible for the Eternal Word, the co-equal Son of God, to leave the
bosom of His Father to clothe Himself with the flesh of sinful man? It
seems an almost extravagant act of love, one unworthy of the dignity of
God. Yet love puts everything aside except the burning desire to promote
the welfare of the loved. The Son of God forgot all else in His divine
compassion for us. How dearly He must love us ! How great should be our
confidence in His love!
2. He teaches us never to judge by
appearances. If we had been told that God had come to dwell on earth,
would not the stable of Bethlehem have been the last place where we
should have sought Him. In how many a humble cottage there may still be
found saints more dear to God than even those who have a world wide
repute for their holiness and virtue !
3. He teaches us the true
dignity of self-abasement. God could not do anything unworthy of
Himself when clad in human flesh. It therefore was no disparagement to
the divine honor that He should thus infinitely condescend. Nay, it
proved that the greatest possible likeness to God is attained by the
most complete humiliation of self. How little I have learned to practice
this lesson ! "
Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
A Desire
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 25, 2025 at 01:00AM in Poetry
O, to have dwelt in Bethlehem
When the star of the Lord shone bright!
To have sheltered the Holy wanderers
on that blessed Christmas night;
Thou have kissed the tender way worn feet
Of the Mother undefiled,
And with reverent wonder and deep delight,
To have tended the Holy Child!
Hush! such a glory was not for Thee;
But that care may still be Thine;
For are there not little ones still to aide
For the sake of the Child divine?
Are there no wandering pilgrims now
To thy heart and thy home to take?
And are there no mothers whose weary hearts
You can comfort for Mary's sake?
Source: Messenger of the Sacred Heart, Adelaide A. Procter 1891
The Shepherds, in receiving the Angel’s tidings, were a figure of watchful priests
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 25, 2025 at 12:00AM in Meditations
I. They Were The First To Be Called.
II. They Were The First To Be Enlightened.
III. They Were The First To Be Comforted.
"And there were in the same country, shepherds watching, and
keeping the night-watches over their flock. And behold an Angel of the
Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them,
and they feared with a great fear: and the Angel said to them: Fear
not."—St. Luke ii. 8, 9, 10.
1. And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them.
The shepherds who kept watch over their flocks by night, were a figure
of Priests, who, as St. Ambrose says, in the night time of this present
life sleep not, but watch in order to guard the souls committed to their
care from the assaults of their spiritual enemies; and it was fitting,
as St. Ambrose says further, "that shepherds should be found watching,
and that they should be the first to receive the Heavenly Tidings, that
He, the Good Shepherd, the Pattern of Shepherds, was born." Therefore
all Priests who teach or direct souls, should remember that they
especially are called upon to adore the new-born Child. Venerable Bede
says, "Mystically speaking, they signify the pastors of the flock,
teachers also, and rulers of faithful souls." Let us then be the first
at the manger; let us contemplate this great mystery; let us be the
first to attract the glance of the Divine Child, and let us melt into
tears of tenderness, love, and compunction. He says to us: Come, make
haste, and buy of Me without price, at the expense of only asking, the
wine of strength, and the milk of consolation: "Come, make haste, buy
wine and milk . . . without any price" (Isa. lv. 1). "Come, eat My
Flesh, and drink My Blood; this is your food, this is your drink, and
therefore am I born in Bethlehem," that is, in " the House of Bread."
"Come eat My bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you"
(Prov. ix. 5). Come, you who are afflicted with misery, oppressed by the
weight of your ministry. "Come to me all you that labor, and are
burdened, and I will refresh you" (St. Matt. xi. 28). Let us go, then;
"let us go over to Bethlehem," let us imitate the shepherds, who came
with haste, and let us be the first to offer tribute to the new-born
Monarch; for the princes of the people ought to go before the people in
their acts of homage.
2. And the brightness of God shone round about them.
The light which shone round about the shepherds is an image of the
divine light with which worthy ministers of God are invested; and, as
St. Gregory says, the greater their vigilance for the salvation of
souls, the greater will be the light of grace which enlightens them; and
the more solicitous they are for the welfare of their flocks, so much
the more will they merit to understand divine truths better than others.
God, who predestined us to the priesthood, Who enlightened us with His
heavenly light from our earliest years, and gave us a clearer knowledge
of His Son than He gave to the rest of the Faithful: "He hath shined in
our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in
the face of Christ Jesus" (2 Cor. iv. 6). When we studied Dogmatic
Theology, we learned the treatise, De Incarnatione, in order that the
sublime teaching of this great mystery might be impressed on our minds;
we have often instructed the ignorant in it, we have confuted
unbelievers, we have defended its truth. One step more remains for us to
take, and it is this; to nourish our minds and hearts with the Faith
and sound doctrine, by imploring the descent of the divine light into
our souls, and so shall we be "good ministers of Christ Jesus" (1 Tim.
iv. 6). Therefore let us hasten to adore the Divine Child; let us study
Him, the pattern of humility, patience, and every virtue; let us say to
Him, with St. Bernard: "The meaner Thou makest Thyself for me, the
dearer Thou art to me." Let Thy grace be made manifest in us, bestow on
us abundance of light, for Thou hast "destroyed death, and brought to
light life and incorruption by the gospel" (2 Tim. i. 10).
3. Fear not. The Angel took away all fear from
the hearts of the shepherds; much more will Jesus Christ take away all
fear from the hearts of His Priests. He says to them now from the
manger, by His infant cries, what, on another occasion, He said in
words: "It is I, fear ye not" (St. Matt. xiv. 27). I am Who am, and you
are My ministers; whom should you fear? I am come, not to give you the
spirit of fear, which was in the Old Law, but the spirit "of power, and
of love, and of sobriety" (2 Tim. i. 7). Preach My Gospel without shame,
without weariness, without diffidence: "be not ashamed of the testimony
of Our Lord . . . but labor with the gospel according to the power of
God" (2 Tim. i. 8). Three times to-day you will offer the mighty
Sacrifice which is the source of all strength, which, as Holy Church
declares, was the support of the martyrs amidst their torments; three
times to-day you will eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, so that in the
strength of that food you may walk, even to "the Mount of God" (3 Kings
xix. 8). And we will answer Him: Jesus, be Thou my strength: come to me,
come to my soul, live in me; or, with St. Ambrose, we may say, For
otherwise what would Thy coming into the world profit me 1
"Say
to my soul, I am thy Salvation."—Ps. xxxiv. 3. "The Lord is my
strength, and my praise, and He is become my salvation." —ha. xii. 2.
The Nativity of Our Lord
by VP
Posted on Thursday December 25, 2025 at 12:00AM in Sermons
The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ (La nativité de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ) - James Tissot
"ON a Day when God the Father speaks to us by His only Son, the Eternal Word, it cannot be less than presumption in man to speak. He ought rather in silence to give ear to what is spoken to him from Heaven, and to contemplate with admiration the wonders and mercies of this day. It is the day, when the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, made man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, was born of her in the stable of Bethlehem, and came in this humble manner to be the world's Redeemer. Approach then in spirit, Christian soul, to the manger: stand there awhile, and receive the instructions which He thence gives you.
But first, while you hear the angels saluting Him with a celestial hymn, and see the shepherds informed from Heaven, making their offerings, and adoring Him as their God, join with them, and confess Him to be your God also. Behold Him, and learn how much you are indebted to the goodness of your God, and the infinite mercy of your Redeemer. The whole world lay under the guilt of sin, and nothing but an eternal banishment from the sight of God, joined with everlasting punishment, was the unavoidable consequence of such guilt. Man was lost; and being through sin an enemy to God, it was not in his power to reverse his fate. For what could rebellious clay do to satisfy an injured God? The debt is infinite, and the unhappy debtor, poor of himself, through his offence, is become still more miserable, wretched, and worse than nothing. And though there wants not mercy ready to forgive, yet there is justice too, which must be satisfied. What remedy then for man, but to be delivered to the executioner, and cast into prison, there to abide, miserable for ever? And thus it was to be. But behold the mercy of your Redeemer; the second Person of the Blessed Trinity offers Himself to become man, that so He may be capable of being made a sacrifice for the sins of men, a sacrifice of infinite value, and more than equal to the guilt. For this end, when the fulness of time was come, ordained by God, for the accomplishment of this work of mercy, He is born of the Virgin Mary, an infant, and yet true God and man! This is the mystery, this the mercy, which the Church at present commemorates, and which you are humbly to adore with love and gratitude.
And now, in beholding this wonder of goodness, do you not see likewise what reason you have to hope, and place your whole confidence in God? When you consider yourself, and discover nothing there but weakness and repeated relapses into sin, it is enough to make you tremble and despair; but viewing here the infinite tenderness and compassion of God, and how great things He has done for your salvation, have you not in this sufficient motives to raise your hopes, to trust in this mercy, and rejoice in so plentiful a redemption? It is now evident, that God wills not the death of a sinner, since He has done so much to regain him to life. And how can you fear that He will refuse you mercy, who has given you His only Son, through whom you may obtain it? What is yet to come, is much less than what He has already done for you: it being much more wonderful for God to become man, than for a sinner to find mercy through such a Redeemer. God will not leave His work imperfect: hope then, and let not your hopes end but with your life.
And does not this goodness of God towards man, teach you the great obligation of loving God, with all your heart, and with all your soul? For what could God do more for you than He has here done? Consider this mystery yet again you say that you believe it; but have you ever seriously reflected upon what you believe? Have you ever thought how infinite must the love of God be, in sending His only Son to be made man, to expose Him to all that is here contemptible, and after cruel torments, to die upon a cross; and all this that man might be saved, that sinful dust and ashes might be exalted to glory? And is there not in this, even in your poor manner of considering it, something wonderful, and worthy of your love? Blush then and be confounded at all your past ingratitude and insensibility, who having so much to love in God, yet love Him so little. If all the moments of your life had been employed in giving your heart to Him, it would have been much short of what is due. But now, having given Him so very few, or none, what can you say, but bewail your misery, and profess that you stand in need of all the mercy of your God? Make some amends however now; and fix this thought so deeply within your soul, that you may be no longer capable of this stupidity.
But what hopes are there of your loving Jesus, if you have no regard to those lessons, which He teaches you? He is Lord of Heaven and earth; and yet, renouncing all the state and magnificence of the world, see in what an humble manner He comes. He has all the treasures of the earth at command, and see how great is His poverty. He has all the legions of angels to wait His pleasure, and see how He is exposed to contempt. There is no place for Him in the town; the best accommodation is taken up by others; a stable is His palace, an ox and an ass are His attendants. All this is what He chose, as most agreeable to the work which He had undertaken, and most proper for giving a true idea of the things of this world to such as desire to be His followers. Not that He requires all to renounce riches, and all manner of state; but that He would not have Christians to value themselves by their possessions or attendants, or place their satisfaction or happiness in them, or love them, or think those contemptible who have them not. For if one pretends to be a follower of Christ, and admires that only which Christ contemned, and undervalues that which Christ chose, it is plain that such a one has only the name, without the spirit of a Christian.
Behold then the model before you, and be assured that Christ chose what was best for Him, and safest for you. And since you find in Him solitude, poverty, want of comforts, hardships, and a separation from the world; you cannot question but that all the happiness of a Christian may be found in these. Though they are not sanctified in themselves, they are still the ordinary way which leads to all those interior virtues, in which the spirit of Christ resides. And if, upon serious consideration of what you here behold in Him, you afterwards cast your eye upon yourself, and see there not only inclinations, but affections and practices kept up, encouraged, and followed, which are quite contrary to what you are here taught; if you are ever solicitous to please yourself, seek whatever delights, are bent on your own ease, love to be admired, labour to be great in the world, are impatient at the want of every convenience, unhappy when contemned, and the like, can you be at peace with yourselves, and think that you love your Lord? Ah, Christian! deceive not yourself; you cannot love Christ, and have such a dislike for what He does: you cannot truly love Him, and yet forsake His ways. Pretend not, therefore, to this love, unless you can show it in your life, as well as in your words: unless you can give proof of a mortified and humble heart, and are either really poor, or poor in spirit.
If you are in earnest, give new proof of it; for you have now the opportunity before you. At this time, the world calls upon you to join with it in many extravagancies. It pretends to rejoice indeed for the birth of a Redeemer; but in general its joy is such as would better suit a pagan festival, than the commemoration of the birth of Christ; there being scarcely any sort of excess, which has not authority and custom to give it credit. The cover of all this is, because it is the time of Christ's Nativity. It is true that there is great reason for Christians to rejoice at the yearly commemoration of so great a mercy; but still it ought to be with a Christian joy, in giving praise and adoration to the Author of this mercy: Glory be to God on high. And if more than ordinary relaxation be then allowed, ought not everything to be done with moderation, decency, innocence, and good order? Certainly, when we renew the memory of the greatest blessing, it ought to be the Christian's care to avoid every thing that can be displeasing to Him, from whose bounty they flow. It must be criminal ingratitude to be then most wicked, when they ought to be most religious; and can it be considered less than madness, to celebrate the mercy of our being Christians, with the licentiousness of heathens? And what is it else, when at this, above other times, we see such a gate opened to all kinds of intemperance, in gluttony, drunkenness, revelling, and gaming, and a variety of disorders as the natural consequence of these? Can this be esteemed a Christian joy, an acknowledgment of blessings, a thanksgiving for mercies? And yet you are pressed to take part in this. Here then let the trial be of what you have professed: let this determine which shall command, Christ or the world, in your soul. The world will not be wanting in suggesting motives to prevail: it will pretend moderation and good; and under this cover decoy you into all excess. But prepare now against it, and beg grace to stand your ground. Beseech your Redeemer to be your strength, offer your heart for His abode, invite Him from the manger; but see that your soul be prepared for such a guest. The ox and the ass offend Him not but if you have any beast, and brutal passion within you, remember that the stable is much the fittest place for you.
Be constant then, to what you have resolved. Let the example of St. Anastasia, that holy virgin and martyr, who is commemorated on this day, give you courage. Surrendering her life to Christ on this day, when Christ was born for her, she made in this the best return she could for so great a mercy. Thus she has taught you a mortifying lesson on this day of joy but it was what she learned of Him,
who came to be a sacrifice for her. Beg to be well instructed in this
school; offer now your life to Christ at His first entrance into the world. Hasten in among the first; and till He shall demand your life, be ready to forsake for Him whatever He shall demand of you. If it be what you cannot renounce, but with great difficulty and violence to yourself, look on the work which He has undertaken, and see whether you ought not to blush at your own niceness, and be ashamed of serving a suffering Lord, no farther than you can do it at your ease. Niceness, self-love, and ease, become not the follower of such a Master." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
The True Nature of Christmas
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 24, 2025 at 12:00AM in Books
Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro, NC
"Today, Christmas is celebrated without Christ in many quarters. Christmas is the season when God became man in the form of a child, and yet, unhappily, in how many homes, because Christ is uninvited, children, too, are no longer welcome. Christmas, like Emmanuel, means "God with us". If we celebrated Christmas without God, we have lost its meaning. If we refuse an inn to God's children as the fruit of marriage, we repeat the sad tale of Bethlehem that refused an inn to Mary and Joseph and the Child.
Christmas means Christ's Mass. But the protestant revolt has denied the true sacrifice of the Mass. It has uprooted His altar and replaced it with a pulpit. There are some who profess to be ministers of Christ and yet deny his Divinity.
The Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament has been removed from their altars and the voice of man has usurped His place. The pivot and focal point of the Protestant Church is not the altar but the pulpit. Man's presence has replaced God's presence; private interpretation has taken the place of God's authority.
Christ is sacrificed in the Mass and the Mass is Christ present with us. Take away the tabernacle of God and, since nature abhors a vacuum, the pulpit of man is ushered in to replace it. Remove the Mass, where Christ is offered and adored, and the result is that man is dehumanized whereas he should be super-naturalized. Man exalts himself instead of humbling himself and adoring God. Without God man is not even himself. He is dehumanized. He is less than man. For man, as God made him, is just a little less than the angels.
Christmas today, for the average worldling, means feasting and food, a holiday, with tinsel and tree, and an exchange of gifts. It is externalized and made pagan in its concept.
It should mean attendance at Mass - at Christ's Mass on Christmas day. It should be a day of great dignity, of rejoicing as evidenced in a temperate use of food and drink and a meeting of loved ones under the star and spirit of Bethlehem. It should mean not so much a receiving as a giving to Christ's poor in imitation of God who gave Himself to the poor in the greatest gifts - His only-begotten Son.
(...)
In thinking of Christmas we always conjure up in our mind's eye the happy days of childhood, the memory of our parents who may have passed on to God's Judgment, and of our early home - all these are most joyous recollections. Certainly Advent should not be observed as a lugubrious or melancholy manner. Penance is a joy when it is performed for God. When imposed upon us for a selfish motive it is a drudgery.
These Advent days, then, can be most joyful, our recollection of former years can be most happy if we dedicate them to God. In simple terms, we can be happiest when all things are in harmony and in their proper place. This is the definition of health. This is the understanding of peace - the "tranquility of order."
Source: Preface of Spiritual Steps to Christmas, Very Rev. Msgr. Aloysius Coogan, MA 1953
Christmas Eve. (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 24, 2025 at 12:00AM in Advent Sermons
"1. How did Mary and Joseph spend the first Christmas Eve? St. Joseph spent it in a fruitless attempt to find a lodging for his holy spouse. Vainly he sought for a place in the caravansery or inn, where travelers were received. Vainly he went from house to house in Bethlehem. Everywhere he was disappointed. Thus it is that God prepares His saints and chosen ones for some signal blessing. We must not be cast down by the fruitlessness of our efforts. It is a sign that some great grace is close at hand.
2. Mary meantime was patiently waiting. She was simply praying that God’s will might be done, whatever suffering it might bring to her. She was offering herself to God, to be used by Him as He should see fit. She was making acts of perfect conformity to the will of God in all things. Blessed are those who wait patiently in such a spirit. God will soon fulfill all the desires of their heart.
3. Yet Mary and Joseph, in spite of the sorrow of the one and the anxiety of the other, were both of them overflowing with heavenly consolations. How could it be otherwise, when one of them carried Christ in her chaste womb, and the other was more dear to God than any other of the sons of men, for he was Mary’s chosen spouse, and he knew that before another day was past she was to bring forth into the world the Son of God. Our happiness, like that of Joseph and Mary, does not depend upon external circumstances, but on the love that we bear to God in our hearts."
Meditations #28 for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)
Prayer to the Holy Infant for priestsJesus, Divine Infant, I bless and thank Thy most loving Heart for the institution of the priesthood. Priests are sent by Thee as Thou were sent by the Father. To them Thou entrusted the treasures of Thy doctrine, of Thy Law, of Thy Grace, and souls themselves.
Grant me the grace to love them, to listen to them, and to let myself be guided by them in Thy ways. Jesus, send good laborers into Thy harvest. May priests be the salt that purifies and preserves; may they be the light of the world; may they be the city placed on the mountain. May they all be formed after Thy own Heart. And in heaven may they be surrounded by a joyous throng of those they shepherded on earth. Amen.
Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more
Vigil of the Nativity of our Lord
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 24, 2025 at 12:00AM in Meditations
"THIS day is a preparation for one of the greatest festivals of the year, a festival of infinite mercy and goodness. On the effects of this mercy depends your eternal good: prepare then for it in the best manner you are able; join contrition with your fasting, and a most profound humiliation of spirit. Confess your manifold weakness and unworthiness: He that comes to be your physician will be pleased with the sincere acknowledgment of your infirmities.
This vigil has been kept from the time of the apostles; and in the primitive ages with such exactness, that a neglect of it was reputed criminal.
St. Augustin removed a priest from amongst his clergy, for being wanting in the observance of it, and for breaking his fast. St. Gregory of Tours gives particular instances of God's displeasure against some who had little regard to it. It cannot be questioned that there is great abuse in the disorderly conduct of those who, after assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, hasten from the altar to their entertainments, which are unbecoming at this holy time, and too often profaning it by irreverence and intemperance. Avoid all these abuses: and if necessity obliges you to take any refreshment, let it be with great moderation, without noise or conversation, that your soul may not be disturbed, but be at full liberty to entertain your Lord, and acknowledge all his mercies.
Beg of your Saviour that the mercy of this night may be extended to you, and help you so powerfully in overcoming all the corruption that is yet within you, that having in Him so plentiful a redemption, you may not be lost by any neglect of yours. Appeal to Him under all the infirmities, to which you are subject. Represent to Him all the dangers you meet in the way of salvation.
He comes to be your Saviour; beseech Him then to be a Saviour to you,
and give you all that grace, which He sees necessary for you." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
