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…

Dear Friends in Christ, The popular Advent Hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” took shape in France in the 17th century and was translated into English and set to the hauntingly beautiful plainchant melody we know in the 19th century. But the text of the hymn dates from the 9th century and earlier and is…

Dear Friends in Christ, To worship God, to proclaim the Gospel, and to serve those in need. The Church’s entire mission can be summarized in these three categories of action, and it is a perennial challenge for Christians to keep all three of these parts in harmony and creative interaction.  Some Catholics can become so…