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The Truer Gift at Christmas – As Seen in a Commercial Msgr. Charles Pope • November 27, 2015 • There 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...

St. Francis and the Christmas CrecheFR. WILLIAM SAUNDERSWhat is the origin of the Nativity Scene (creche)? The story of the origin of the Christmas creche rests with the very holy man, St. Francis of Assisi. In the year 1223, St. Francis, a deacon, was visiting the town of Grecio to celebrate Christmas. Grecio was a small town built on a mountainside overlooking a beautiful valley. The people had cultivated the fertile area with vineyards. St. Francis realized that the chapel of the Franciscan hermitage would be too small to hold the congregation for Midnight Mass. So he found a niche...

Christmas Overview Theme: His Nativity Color: White or Gold Mood: Joy Symbols: star, manger, candles, bells, mother and Child, the Holy Family, angels, Christmas candle, 3 wise men, Christmas trees, holly and ivy, poinsettias, Glastonbury thorn, mistletoe, Christmas roses, Yule log, cardinals, robins Length: With regard to liturgical calculations: 25 December - 13 JanuaryAs a spiritual Season/liturgical cycle: 25 December - Candlemas     This, not Advent, is the true Christmas Season. As most people in secular or Protestantized countries are putting away "Christmas-y" things, and as shopping malls stop blaring "Here Comes Santa Claus," Catholics are just getting started....

Growing up, I loved Christmas so much. It wasn't even the gifts (although that certainly played a part), but the lights, the music, the general magical feeling in the air. I also loved the celebration of Christ's birth. Being evangelical Protestant, our family didn't embrace the fullness of the Christmas religious tradition, but each year we did several meaningful activities (such as putting up a Nativity scene, the advent wreath, reading of the Christmas story). The suspenseful joy of Christmas Eve led to the feasting of Christmas Day and the celebration of the birth of the Messiah and Lord. But,...