December 10
“And when the hour had come that was to move
The long days onward to Bethlehem…
a moment paused,
Above a quiet place, and found, just this,
A woman wrapped in silence, and the seed
Of silence was her heart that tried to give
All that it held to give, and ever more.”
-John W. Lynch, Excerpt from A Woman Wrapped in Silence
December 9
“The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.’
-Lumen Gentium #56
December 8
Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Although it’s true that the use of a wreath decorated with lit candles dates back to pre-Christian Germanic people, it has been used by Christians since the Middle Ages as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas.
December 7
“Within the sphere of humanity and in the natural world, there had to be a pure and spotless being capable of receiving the divine element, a feminine principle enlightened by grace.”
-Nicholas Berdyaev
“[The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’ … Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9 - 10).
Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDSSeveral years ago, William J. Bennett wrote a book entitled, The True St. Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas, in which he details the story of this heroic saint and how his story became the foundation for the Santa Claus we know today.
December 6
“God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, inasmuch as a mere creature was capable of it, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son and all the members of His Mystical Body.”
-St. Louis Grignion de Montfort
The Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in the U.S. House of Representatives released an alarming report of its findings on the FBI’s targeting of certain Catholic Americans they categorized as “potential domestic terrorists.”
As all regular readers of this blog know, we get many questions about children's books in which the characters use sorcery in one way or another. In an effort to help Christian parents learn how to discern whether or not this content is suitable for their children, I would like to post insights from Michael O'Brien's book, Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture (www.studioobrien.com) which I hope you'll find useful.
