The O Antiphons

We hear the O Antiphons on the remaining days of Advent. Each day the Gospel Acclamation at Mass and the Evening Prayer antiphon before the Magnificat begin with O and include a Messianic title, such as O Wisdom or O King of All the Nations. These O antiphons probably began with monks in centuries past.…

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Jump Down into the Treetops

Did you ever look in a puddle and see treetops and clouds? Looking down you see the heavens. Looking down you see what is above. When Mary and Joseph looked down into the face of Baby Jesus, did they see God in his heaven?

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Journeying through Advent

There’s movement in Advent. We seem to be on a journey. Forward and deeper. Forward in crossing off the days until Christmas. Forward in opening windows of Advent calendars. Deeper into the mystery. Come, all ye! Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord! Let Advent be a pilgrimage. “Come, let us climb…

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A Lump in the Throat

Frederick Buechner writes in The Alphabet of Grace: “Religions start, as Frost said poems do, with a lump in the throat, to put it mildly, or with the bush going up in flames, the rain of flowers, the dove coming down out of the sky.” Does Advent similarly start with “a lump in the throat”?…

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