Free Republic

Christmas 2018: Who Were the Wise Men? By Philip Cottraux The Nativity scene. Amongst the yearly plethora of Christmas trees, gifts, same radio songs playing over and over, and Santa Claus, we constantly look to the Nativity to remind ourselves of the reason for the season. But this year I want to focus solely on one of the strangest aspects of the Christmas story. The wise men are one of the most iconic images of Christmas. Somehow mixed in all the winter imagery is a forlorn desert-scape under a starry night. Three men dressed as Persian royalty ride camels toward...

And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so...

It wouldn't be Christmas without some local-government official banning the display of a Nativity scene on public property. In this latest case, the church displaying the crèche had already received permission and had a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that such displays are legal as long as other non-religious or non-sectarian symbols are allowed. But what if no one else cares to put up an alternate display of competing symbols? According to these bureaucrats, the burden falls on the church ...

“Praise and glory be to thee, O holy Trinity, who hast brought us all to this day’s solemnity. Praise be to thee also, O holy Mother of God, scepter of the orthodox faith: through thee the Cross triumphs, and man is called back to heaven; through thee the idols are overthrown, and the nations are brought to repentance.” Such words as these, which the Church borrows from her doctors to close the bright Octave, were doubtless sung in prophecy by the angels around the new-born babe Mary. And such, in the light of the ages since elapsed, must needs...

HOW BEAUTIFUL are thy first steps, O prince’s daughter! Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army. Blessed child, continue to grow in grace; may thy course be prosperous; may thy royalty be strengthened and established. But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up, to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon: Rejoice O Virgin Mary; thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world. Heresy, Satan’s denial of what God affirms by his Christ, this is the great struggle, or rather the only...

“WHO IS SHE that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” Such is thy growth, O Mary! Not the holiest life, were it even of patriarchal duration, will ever attain the degree of progress made under the influence of divine power by the soul of the most pure Virgin, in these few days elapsed since her coming on earth. First, there is the progress of her intellect: not subject to the obscurity which envelopes the minds of all men at their entrance into the world,...

Red Simple “DIMITTE ME, jam enim ascendit aurora; let me go for it is break of day;” such were the words which put an end to the struggle between the Angel and the Patriarch on the banks of the torrent. Blessed dawn, which triumphed over God himself! How long had been that night, during which the human race had been struggling by its supplications and tears! Ever since the fall, the Angel of justice had been guarding the entrance to the true land of promise; at every turn he was to be found, resisting in his inexorable vengeance poor,...

LET US MAKE MAN to Our image and likeness. “And God made man; He modelled him,” says Tertullian, “to the image of God, i.e. of Christ. Wonderful deed, to fashion this slime of the earth! God seems to be absorbed in it; He makes it the work of His hand and of His heart; counsel, wisdom, providence, and above all love, trace the lines. As He forms each lineament of this clay, He has in mind Christ who is to become man. This slime of the earth, stamped with the image of the Christ to come, is not only...

White Double of the Second Class (with a Simple Octave) LET US CELEBRATE THE NATIVITY of the Virgin Mary; let us adore her Son, Christ our Lord. Such is the invitation addressed to us today by the Church. Let us hearken to her call; let us enter into her overflowing joy. The Bridegroom is at hand, for his throne is now set up on earth; yet a little while, and he will appear in the diadem of our human nature, wherewith his Mother is to crown him on the day of the joy of his heart, and of ours....

RUSH: July 13th of this year, this is Rod Rosenstein press conference at the Department of Justice. Listen… Rod Rosenstein Holds Press Conference for Law Enforcement AnnouncementROSENSTEIN: There’s no allegation in this document that any American citizen committed a crime. There’s no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result. RUSH: That was after an indictment of a whole bunch of Russians. I’m not gonna stop playing this, folks, because it’s all right there. BREAK TRANSCRIPT Now, go back and grab me sound bite 20. I don’t want anybody to ever forget this. I keep...

White Double of the First Class (with an Octave) The Voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord; behold thy God!” Oh! in this world of ours grown now so cold, who can understand earth’s transports at hearing these glad tidings so long expected? The promised God was not yet manifested; but already have the heavens bowed down to make way for his passage. No longer was he “the One who is to come,” he for whom our fathers, the illustrious saints of the prophetic age ceaselessly called, in their indomitable hope. Still...

Merry Christmas everyone. Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Would Pope Francis say anything about this year’s Vatican nativity scene — which was so clearly meant as a nod to the LGBT lobby — when he paid it a visit on New Year’s Eve? He spoke not a word of course, but instead blessed it and chuckled as a few dignitaries, responsible for what some have called a “hideous” and “sacrilegious” crèche, gave him a guided tour. And yet something very eerie and ominous happened that evening. At exactly the same time as the Pope left St. Peter’s Basilica and walked to the crèche in St. Peter’s Square, a...

Would Pope Francis say anything about this year’s Vatican nativity scene — which was so clearly meant as a nod to the LGBT lobby — when he paid it a visit on New Year’s Eve? He spoke not a word of course, but instead blessed it and chuckled as a few dignitaries, responsible for what some have called a “hideous” and “sacrilegious” crèche, gave him a guided tour. And yet something very eerie and ominous happened that evening. At exactly the same time as the Pope left St. Peter’s Basilica and walked to the crèche in St. Peter’s Square, a...

A bizarre scene unfolded in Vatican City on Christmas Day when a topless female activist, while screaming “God is woman,” attempted to snatch a baby Jesus statue from a Nativity scene — but was quickly whisked away by police as she lunged for it. The woman, who also had “God is woman” painted in black on her bare back, was seen jumping over a guardrail and charging toward the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, Reuters reported.

A topless activist tried to snatch the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Monday. The Christmas shenanigan unfolded as the activist, with the radical women’s group Femen, jumped over the railing around the scene and lunged for the statue of Jesus before she was foiled by a Vatican gendarme. The woman screamed, “God is woman!” and had the same slogan painted on her back. The drama took place a mere two hours before Pope Francis delivered his Christmas tidings to some 50,000 people in the square. The woman was identified on Femen’s Web...

I know it’s FLOTUS Friday but since Melania and Barron are already in Mar a Lago for Christmas I think we should just let them enjoy the holiday. And while  I’m not tired of winning yet, I am tired of news and politics in general. So what do you say we spend this Friday before Christmas reminiscing: post your favorite vintage Christmas memory from any or all categories: Toys:I had this panda! Till my little brother accidentally ripped his head off.Decorations: Pretty sure these wouldn’t pass the 21st century PC testAds: Been a long, long time since these would be...

Read/print the novena here.

BOCA RATON, Fla. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholics celebrate after a satanic display fails to go up near a public nativity scene in Florida. In November, nearly 50,000 people signed a petition started by Return to Order — an organization associated with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) — asking the city of Boca Raton to shut down a satanic display in Sanborn Square. The satanic display, consisting of an upside-down pentagram with the words "In Satan we trust" and "May the children hail Satan," has been erected for the last two years by Preston Smith,...

A church in Massachusetts hopes to inspire its parishioners to take action by placing a list of recent mass shootings inside its nativity scene, Boston 25 News reported. St. Susanna’s Parish in the town of Dedham posted a list of cities where the shooting occurred and the death tolls directly behind the infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the report said.