commeNTARY AmenAmen Matysek CommentaryChristmasCommentary Christmas silence George P. Matysek Jr.December 21, 20244 min read Maybe silence, especially at a time of the year so filled with what the Grinch referred to as “NOISE, NOISE, NOISE” can be the way we can encounter Christ in a more meaningful way. ChristmasCommentaryConflict in the Middle East Why I’m spending Christmas in Bethlehem this year Father Patrick BriscoeDecember 20, 20243 min read The small, struggling city where Jesus Christ was born holds a deeper urgency — and a quiet, heartbreaking beauty. CommentaryJubilee 2025 Opening up bricked-in doors Jaymie Stuart WolfeDecember 20, 20244 min read Splendor and reverence are largely absent from our daily lives, and mostly abandoned by the dominant secular culture that casualizes almost everything. ChristmasCommentaryMarriage & Family Life Getting adult children to Christmas Mass Greg ErlandsonDecember 19, 20243 min read It’s a tough time to be a Catholic parent these days. While there are some young adults who are embracing their Catholicism, often even its most traditional manifestations, the much larger number of Catholic younger adults have at best a tenuous connection with the faith of their father and mother. AdventChristmasCommentary A eucharistic Word: Christmas Michael R. HeinleinDecember 19, 20244 min read Keeping Christ in Christmas, or in any other day for that matter, is really the challenge of a eucharistic lifestyle. Our words are meaningless and empty when they are not upheld by our personal conformity in all we think, say and do. AdventBlogCommentaryOpen Window Up on the Housetop Rita BuettnerDecember 18, 20244 min read I must have been about 5 or 6 that Christmas Eve. My grandmother was spending the night so she could wake up with all of us on Christmas morning. To make sure that Grandma had a bed, my oldest sister Maureen and I slept on the third floor of our Rodgers Forge townhouse. We were […] Arts & CultureBooksCommentary Tolkien’s world, still popular on the big screen, began with faith and words Cecilia HadleyDecember 18, 20247 min read J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth — the world of “The Lord of the Rings” and now the new animated film “The War of the Rohirrim” — was born, first and foremost, from Tolkien’s intense and lifelong love for language. CommentaryQuestion Corner Question Corner: What is the point of the Mass reading about the genealogy of Jesus? Jenna Marie CooperDecember 18, 20244 min read God uses the lowly, the humble and the unexpected to achieve his purposes. It perfectly sets the stage for the greatest “surprise” of all, that the King of Kings should come to us in humble circumstances, born of a virgin and laid in a manger. AdventCommentary Every dawn an Advent, every day a New Year Laura Kelly FanucciDecember 16, 20244 min read Each day we stand before the doors of chronos and kairos. We can enter into the frantic, fast-paced, nonstop rush of consumerist culture, with its endless urgent cries of “buy, buy, buy” and “more, more, more.” Or we can turn and open another door, the quieter way of faith. CommentaryWorship & Sacraments A beginner’s guide to prayer for Catholics OSV NewsDecember 15, 20247 min read God loves us more than we can imagine. He wants us to get to know and love him as a Father. Like any loving parent, he wants to spend time talking with his children. The following are answers to commonly asked questions about prayer. Previous 1 … 1 2 3 … 241 Next