While we know for sure that sins are forgiven through the sacrament, God is of course free to extend his grace beyond even what he has promised.

We’ve reached the point in our Christmas break where I am not entirely sure what day of the week it is. What I do know is that we are still in the midst of our Christmas celebrations.

In the darkest days of winter, we are filled with new hope, just as when we hold that new child.

On Christmas Eve morning, we woke up to find that our furnace had stopped working.

We can see the passing years and decades as simply growing older. Or we can see the passing years and decades as growing toward eternity.

Enjoying snow and hot chocolate is a cozy way to spend Christmas, but watching the sky light up in celebration of the birth of Christ is just as magical.

Using a cherished family recipe handed down from ancestors from Poland, Catholic Review Managing Editor George Matysek Jr. and his wife, Treasa, spend the wee hours before Christmas making, kneading and rolling out dough and then dropping homemade potato-and-cheese filling into each carefully crafted circle.

In these final days of Advent, I am way behind on my preparation for Christmas.

With woodland walks and natural ponds embracing a circular granite basin carefully etched with the names of those who perished that day in 2012, the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial offers a simple beauty.

It’s a sign of St. Francis’ holiness that his fame draws people to the cross from which Christ receives and gazes on all who come.