Smoky Mountains Sunrise
Showing posts with label Christmas 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas 2014. Show all posts

Friday, December 26, 2014

The Abolition of Christmas



WebNote: Pat Buchanan wrote this column back in December 2001. It is one of my favorites and is posted today as as we observe this Christmas season of 2014. 

By Patrick J. Buchanan – December 21, 2001

When I was a boy, Kensington was a village half an hour north of Chevy Chase Circle where, inside an ice-cold armory, Catholic kids practiced basketball. Montgomery County was a bedroom suburb of D.C. Nothing beyond existed, except for the Rockville drive-in. 

This fall, both precincts became world-famous as citadels of wacko liberalism. The Montgomery County Council voted to fine homeowners $500 who let cigarette smoke escape into neighbors’ houses. And the Kensington council voted to purge Santa from its 30-year-old tradition of lighting a pine tree in front of town hall. 

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis for Christmas Midnight Mass

 
THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD: MASS IN THE HOLY NIGHT

ST PETER'S BASILICA

24 DECEMBER 2014


"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined" (Is 9:1). "An angel of the Lord appeared to (the shepherds) and the glory of the Lord shone around them" (Lk 2:9). This is how the liturgy of this holy Christmas night presents to us the birth of the Saviour: as the light which pierces and dispels the deepest darkness. The presence of the Lord in the midst of his people cancels the sorrow of defeat and the misery of slavery, and ushers in joy and happiness.

We, too, in this blessed night, have come to the house of God. We have passed through the darkness which envelops the earth, guided by the flame of faith which illuminates our steps, and enlivened by the hope of finding the "great light". By opening our hearts, we also can contemplate the miracle of that child-sun who, arising from on high, illuminates the horizon.

The origin of the darkness which envelops the world is lost in the night of the ages. Let us think back to that dark moment when the first crime of humanity was committed, when the hand of Cain, blinded by envy, killed his brother Abel (cf. Gen 4:8). As a result, the unfolding of the centuries has been marked by violence, wars, hatred and oppression.

But God, who placed a sense of expectation within man made in his image and likeness, was waiting. He waited for so long that perhaps at a certain point it seemed he should have given up. But he could not give up because he could not deny himself (cf. 2 Tim 2:13). Therefore he continued to wait patiently in the face of the corruption of man and peoples.

Through the course of history, the light that shatters the darkness reveals to us that God is Father and that his patient fidelity is stronger than darkness and corruption. This is the message of Christmas night. God does not know outbursts of anger or impatience; he is always there, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, waiting to catch from afar a glimpse of the lost son as he returns.

Isaiah's prophecy announces the rising of a great light which breaks through the night. This light is born in Bethlehem and is welcomed by the loving arms of Mary, by the love of Joseph, by the wonder of the shepherds. When the angels announced the birth of the Redeemer to the shepherds, they did so with these words: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12).  The "sign" is the humility of God taken to the extreme; it is the love with which, that night, he assumed our frailty, our suffering, our anxieties, our desires and our limitations. The message that everyone was expecting, that everyone was searching for in the depths of their souls, was none other than the tenderness of God: God who looks upon us with eyes full of love, who accepts our poverty, God who is in love with our smallness.

On this holy night, while we contemplate the Infant Jesus just born and placed in the manger, we are invited to reflect. How do we welcome the tenderness of God? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by him, or do I prevent him from drawing close? "But I am searching for the Lord" - we could respond. Nevertheless, what is most important is not seeking him, but rather allowing him to find me and caress me with tenderness. The question put to us simply by the Infant's presence is: do I allow God to love me?  

More so, do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us, or do we prefer impersonal solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the Gospel? How much the world needs tenderness today!

The Christian response cannot be different from God's response to our smallness. Life must be met with goodness, with meekness. When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts to him, and beseech him: "Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the face of every need, of meekness in every conflict".

Dear brothers and sisters, on this holy night we contemplate the Nativity scene: there "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Is 9:1). People who were unassuming, open to receiving the gift of God, were the ones who saw this light. This light was not seen, however, by the arrogant, the proud, by those who made laws according to their own personal measures, who were closed off to others. Let us look to the crib and pray, asking the Blessed Mother: "O Mary, show us Jesus!'"


A Christmas Wish for You

(The following message is a reprint of our first Christmas post in 2007)

"Adoration of the Magi" by Peter Paul Rubens, 1616-17


"Were Men to Learn the Message

Silence Always Brings,

They’d Learn to Span Earth’s Bridges

To Touch Immortal Things." 

 ~ Sister Elizabeth Loretto Triail, C.S.J.

My dear Friends, 

When I began blogging this past July, I could not have imagined the extraordinary worldwide network of friends and the powerful movement of which I was becoming a part. 

Among all the chatter and noise of the worldwide web, are a conversation and a movement from which I have drawn far more than I have contributed. It is a movement in defense of Truth and Beauty. It rejects what Malcolm Muggeridge called “The Great Liberal Death Wish.” It stands up to the new tyranny threatening Europe and America. It is a great multi-national effort to defend the gates of Christian civilization against the demonic Islamism that would murder us all, and it recognizes, as did Churchill, that victory at all costs is essential, “for without victory there is no survival.” 

This blog draws its name from a speech by the great Churchill because I believe that the crisis facing the West is of the same nature and no less perilous than that which Churchill confronted. We stand at a crossroads where we either “move forward into broad, sunlit uplands” or, if we fail, “the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.” 

T. S. Eliot in “Notes Towards a Definition of Culture” wisely recognizes that “no culture can appear or develop except in relation to a religion.” Eliot also states: “Fortunate the man who, at the right moment, meets the right friend; fortunate also the man who at the right moment meets the right enemy.” Has the West finally encountered the “right enemy,” the enemy that will drive us to our knees and turn our gaze once again to the baby born in a manger who split time into two, the God who “so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting?” 

During this holy season I pray that you and all those who may visit these pages in the months ahead will hear and know the God who speaks to us in silence. May you “touch immortal things” this Christmas, and may God richly bless you and all those you love, now and forever. 
Daniel Cassidy 




Sunday, December 21, 2014

Archbishop Fulton Sheen: The Meaning of Christmas



Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the first televangelist, discussing the meaning of Christmas in a 1956 broadcast of his TV Show "Life is Worth Living."



Saturday, December 20, 2014

Epic Christmas Caroling


A random family is surprised by Christmas caroling with a 20-person brass orchestra and a 13-member choir.  

This is one of over 100 different missions Improv Everywhere has executed over the past ten years in New York City. Others include Frozen Grand Central, the Food Court Musical, and the famous No Pants Subway Ride, to name a few.  


Sunday, December 7, 2014

USAF Christmas Flash Mob at the Smithsonian

Only half-way into the Advent season, this seems a bit early to us.  We celebrate the Christmas season that BEGINS on December 25, but for those whose calendar is determined by the department store chains, here's a wonderful Christmas Flash Mob that was recently performed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.



Thursday, November 13, 2014

Sainsbury's Official Christmas 2014 Ad and the Christmas Day Truce of 1914


Britain's largest chain of supermarkets, Sainsbury's, has created a beautiful Christmas ad with the theme "Christmas is for sharing". Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion, it commemorates the  Christmas Day Truce of 1914, when the guns fell silent and two armies met in no-man’s land, sharing gifts – and even playing football together.