Dear Friends in Christ, The vast majority of Christians, including almost all Catholics, are baptized when they are infants, and this is most fitting. The sacraments are instruments of God’s grace, and even newborn babies need the grace of God. Moreover, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “The sheer gratuitousness of the…

Dear Friends in Christ, The Solemnity of the Epiphany is one of the richest feasts in the Christian liturgy, and for this reason, it is also among the most misunderstood. The Greek word which we translate epiphany simply means “appearance” or “manifestation”, and in the Western liturgical tradition the Epiphany is linked most strongly to…

Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is not just one day on the calendar. Christmas is an entire season, although a brief one, of the Church’s liturgical year. The season of Christmas Time or Christmastide begins with Vespers on Christmas Eve and ends with Vespers on the Feast of the Baptism the Lord, this year on…

Dear Friends in Christ, On every Sunday and most other Solemnities of the Year, the texts for Mass are the same for both the vigil and the day of the celebration. For the celebration of Christmas, however, the Church provides four different Masses, each with its own Scripture readings and proper prayers, and this is…