Pope’s General Audience – December 20, 2023

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Pope Francis

Eight hundred years ago, at Christmas in 1223, Saint Francis organized the living Nativity scene in Greccio.

Pope Francis’ Homily at the Christmas Mass at Night on the Solemnity of the Lord’s Birth – December 24, 2018

Monday, December 24, 2018

Salt + Light Media

Pope Francis’ Homily at the Christmas Mass at Night on the Solemnity of the Lord’s Birth – December 24, 2018 At 9:30 this evening in the Vatican Basilica, Pope Francis presided at the “Mass of the Night” on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord 2018. During the celebration of the Eucharist, after the […]

From Manger to Canvas: The Nativity in Art

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Emilie Callan

Christmas urges us to reflect on the Mystery of the Incarnation. In a short video series, Fr. Eric Nicolai, an Opus Dei priest and art expert, helps us reflect on this mystery through religious art from the early Christians to roughly around the 18th century. Despite all the changes in the artistic depictions of the […]

Deacon-structing: The Nativity

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Deacon Pedro

Some years ago, in an episode of Perspectives about the truth about Santa Claus we had a wonderful discussion on Perspectives Weekly about teaching our kids that Christmas is about Christ. We’ve never had so many comments on one program! I remember that one of the comments came from Warren Dungen, who suggested that we […]

Deacon-structing: Christmas Music

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Deacon Pedro

It seems that every year we have the same discussion around this time: what is the real meaning of Christmas? and let’s keep Christ in Christmas. There are even campaigns to boycott department stores that refuse to acknowledge the “reason for the season.” It’s so easy to jump onto that band wagon. To add to this, “Christmas” starts […]

Lunch Box Conversations: Sebastian Gomes on the Birth of the Messiah

Monday, December 14, 2015

Vivian Cabrera

As Canada’s only Catholic Television Network that broadcasts across the nation 24 hours a day seven days a week, we run a fairly tight operation. With 30 or so full time employees, everyone is constantly doing one thing or another. But when it comes to lunch time, there is no messing around. We sit, we […]

New S+L documentary explores the Infancy Narratives

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Sebastian Gomes

If someone asked you to tell them the Christmas story as it’s told in the Gospels, how would you tell it? What would you include? What would you emphasize? How accurate would your retelling be? The common image of the Christmas story that we have in our minds comes from traditional nativity scenes. We see […]

So Where Did the Nativity Scene Originate?

Friday, December 26, 2014

Alicia Ambrosio

In 2007 I was a fresh-faced reporter at a diocesan newspaper. My editor assigned me to write a piece on the history of the nativity scene. I tracked down a priest and professor of church history and set off interview him about the history of the nativity scene. I did not do a Google search […]

Remembering Mary

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Bishop William McGrattan

The Season of Advent helps us to prepare for Christmas where we recall in faith Christ’s coming among us. It is also a time in which we look at our present lives and reflect on the second coming of Christ in our own lives and at the end of the ages. It is definitely a […]

Christmas without Gift Wrapping

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Stefan Slovak

As in past years, Christmas 2013 was what I had expected it to be; in fact it really wasn’t all that different from any other year. Seeing family at the regularly scheduled times, being at the same masses (emphasis on the plural), hearing the same carols and even in some cases the same sermons. Christmas […]