Tagged: Christmas

Homily

The Soul Felt Its Worth – Homily for Gaudete Sunday

Today we heard the prophet Isaiah say, “I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul.” The word “rejoice” is repeated over and over in today’s Gaudete Sunday liturgy, from that reading of Isaiah, to the responsorial psalm, “My soul rejoices in my God,” and in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always.” We’re only about a week away from Christmas, and today we are reminded that Christmas is a time of rejoicing. There are many people whose faces shine with that...

Christmas Creche

Spirituality

Welcome to Our World: A Christmas Prayer by Chris Rice

Christmas is ever so close now, and life often gets crazy busy about this time. If you have a spare two minutes and forty-seven seconds today, I offer you this beautiful Christmas meditation by musician Chris Rice. Christmas is a perfect time to welcome the Christ child into our world more deeply. What is your world right now? Is it chaos and confusion? Frustration and fear? Doubt and anger? Or perhaps your world right now is peace and harmony, joy and fulfillment, love and acceptance. Regardless, the Christ...

School in Winter

Prayer / Teaching

Prayer for Teachers and Students Returning to School After Christmas Break

Heavenly Father, Thank you for the blessings of this Christmas Break. Since last we gathered in this classroom, we celebrated the birth of your Son, we rang in a brand new year, and we watched the magi give their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. As we meet in school again, help us celebrate your Son’s presence in every moment of every day; inspire us to use this new year to draw closer to you; and grant us the desire to give our most precious gifts to those...

Spirituality

The Lord of the Gifts: A Brief Meditation on Tolkien and PEZ

My family held a white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas–you know, where people bring gifts anonymously, exchange them, and get a chance to steal them from others. We fought over battery operated massagers, remote control cars, coffee mugs, and Hot Wheels. I was fortunate enough to get a set of PEZ dispensers in the shape of The Lord of the Rings characters, but the process made me think about other gifts we’ve received: our talents, life experiences, and environment. I wonder how many times we look at other...

nativity scene

Homily

Homily for the Christmas Vigil Mass for Children – Year C 2012

God Is With Us! Quite a few firsts in this homily: first homily without a full text in front of me first time preaching at a liturgy for children first Christmas homily first time using the lapel microphone first homily away from the ambo and walking around http://traffic.libsyn.com/stpeter/SP-2012-12-24a.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS