Nelson Mandela: Quotes -ppt

Christmas Spirit: Care, share...Video

The WORD became FLESH

Every day Christmas

Christmas - Dec 24

I wonder what I would have heard had I been there that night. It is a question that annually haunts me. Would I have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of barnyard animals shifting around? Would I have seen the star in the sky that night or simply two poor and very frightened kids? Would I have understood the hushed silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind. Would I have understood the message of Emmanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic implications of that evening have passed me by?

Christmas Videos

Christmas Videos-1

CHRISTMAS - Illustrations

Consider Again Christmas When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would become what it is today.

Advent 4 A

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration

We are beginning the celebration of God coming to us, God being with us, we being brought into the presence of God. This is the great mystery of Christmas: it is the feast of Emmanuel which means ‘God is with us.’ This is our special celebration this Sunday, but each time we gather here we remember the words of Jesus: ‘When two or three are gathered here in my name, I am there among them’. So, let us spend time reminding ourselves that Jesus is among us, we are in his presence in this gathering, and recalling that we are the people who proclaim him as Emmanuel: God is with us.

--------------
Michel de Verteuil
General Comments

Advent: Cardinal Luis Antonio (Chito) Tagle

We are in the holy season of Advent, a time to prepare for the coming of the Messiah through prayer, penance and good works. A few days ago a friend told me that my coming into the Archdiocese of Manila as its 32nd Archbishop is truly Advent. “You are the one who is to come,” he declared. The remark made me laugh. It also made me think. Is this occasion really about me? I know many people are asking “who is this new archbishop of Manila? What is he like? What are his vision and plans?” But like John the Baptist I am inviting you to focus on the One mightier than all of us, Jesus Christ, the Risen One and the True Shepherd of the Church. My Episcopal motto says it plainly, “Dominus Est! It is the Lord!” 

Advent 3A - John the Baptist: What do you see and hear?

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration 

In these weeks before Christmas our reflection and prayer as a community focus on the various ways that the Lord is near to us:
he is the One who is continually coming into our world with his good news of liberation and joy; we are the people who welcome him and become his hands, and mouth, and feet. So we can now reflect on the joyfulness that is ours because we are in Christ’s presences — he is near to us; but we must regret the times when our actions have been far from him.

-----------

Michel de Verteuil
General comments
The passage is clearly in two sections:
Verses 2 to 6: The meeting between John’s disciples and Jesus.
Verses 7 to 11: Jesus speaks of John.
You can read verses 2 to 5 as a journey into a deeper faith which John the Baptist made, letting your meditation guide you to interpret this journey from your own experience. What was John’s prison? Why did he send disciples? What was the purpose of his question?