Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is not just one day on the calendar; Christmas is an entire season 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 Sunday 10 January. And…

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, The Jubilee of Mercy began five days ago on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, but today in Rome Pope Francis is opening the Holy Door of his cathedral church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran. And for the first…