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 11 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, On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I arrived on campus in mid-afternoon to set up for Confessions and Mass, and I met a couple in Miller Square who were taking pictures of the church and columbarium. I welcomed them to St. Mary’s and invited them to stay for Mass, and they explained…

Dear Friends in Christ, Though not observed this year because it falls on a Sunday, December 7th is the feast of Saint Ambrose of Milan, one of the most remarkable bishops of the early Church. Aurelius Ambrosius was born around the year 340 in the city of Trier, now in Germany but then in the…