The centuries' old silver fir tree that had been destined to become the centerpiece Christmas decoration in St. Peter's Square will now live, perhaps to see another century.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: The rebuilding of Puerto Rico's energy grid could serve as a model; Desmond Tutu was raised up to point the way for us; The Post on clergy who quit.
A Christmas Carol is a mirror of our world: choked by disease, inequity and poverty, with the gap between the wealthy and the poor seemingly insurmountable. Until, by the grace of grace, it’s not. Until a heart of stone is broken open.
As people of faith preparing to celebrate Christmas, remember that not all members of the Body of Christ are coping with personal and collective challenges equally. The moral obligation is to call to mind that suffering exists in many forms and recognize that we can all do something to support one another and ourselves.
Soul Seeing: In Christ, I am part of you and you are part of me and we are really one, indivisible and interdependent. What could be simpler, and more profound?
Each year more than 1.5 million bulbs of Christmas lights transform the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, in southern Illinois, into the Way of Lights, transporting visitors back to biblical days in a Christmas display like few others in the country.
The pope said that only through humility can one truly understand God and oneself because it "opens us up to the experience of truth, of authentic joy, of knowing what matters."
