Free Republic

The Truer Gift As Seen in a Touching Christmas Commercial By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere is an old saying that the greatest things in life aren’t things. Our greatest gifts are those we love, beginning with God, and extending to one another.One of the great dangers at Christmastime (and with life in general) is that we maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum, or, as Jesus puts it, we strain out gnats and swallow camels (Matt 23:24).  He said this about the religiously observant of his day, who meticulously followed small, technical rules about cleanliness and ritual purity, but neglected...

Is There Anyone You Know Who Might Have Been Forgotten This Christmas? By: Msgr. Charles PopeChristmas is a beautiful time of the year for most of us, most of the time. But it is also true that Christmas can be a very painful time of year for some, especially those who have experienced recent loss or who, for various reasons, have fewer family options at Christmas. Yes, Christmas can be the best of times or the loneliest of times, the most wonderful time of the year or the most painful.The video below reminds us that Christmas can also be a...

Christmas Isn’t Perfect – So Find Christ in Your Real Christmas By: Msgr. Charles PopeMost of us have a perfect Christmas in mind. Often it is the creation of Hallmark, Currier & Ives, and various marketers. But none of us will have a perfect Christmas, just a real one.The First Christmas wasn’t perfect either. In fact, the only way to describe it is to call it a crisis. Mary was pregnant before marriage, a very dangerous thing in those times. Just at the time of birth they were required to travel eighty miles on foot to Bethlehem. There was no...

All is Calm, All is Bright…Really? Maybe This Video Will Help By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe video below was produced by the Archdiocese of Washington for our “Find the Perfect Gift” Christmas outreach. It is an attempt to refocus Catholics and non-Catholics on the truest and most perfect gift of Christmas, Jesus Christ. It also invites each of us to give the perfect gift, the gift of our very self to God and to one another.The video illustrates well a problem that we can all have at Christmas: hectic, hurried lives, made even busier by “holiday” requirements and traditions. These traditions,...

A feminist activist ran topless through St Peter's Square and rushed the nativity scene before attempting to flee with the baby Jesus figurine. The woman, who had the words 'God Is Woman' written on her chest, started her protest just one hour after Pope Francis delivered his Christmas message. Thousands of pilgrims were still standing in the famous square when the woman, who is a member of Femen, was ambushed by a guard on her way off the platform. She was quickly arrested by officers from the Vatican police.