When our Lord first came on Christmas night, He wished us peace through the ministry of His angels : "Peace on earth to men of good will". There does not seem to be much peace in the world at the present time. There are too few men of good will. This year Christmas was all but cancelled. Without Christmas, without Christ, there will only ever be strife and turmoil. How fortunate we are, therefore, to have been counted with the shepherds and to have received the invitation to come and adore our newborn Saviour. Every time a child is baptized, the angels assemble and hail Christ's advent to the soul in the form of sanctifying grace. They silently sing a new Gloria and reiterate the promise of peace.
We in Tradition do not reject new things simply because they are new. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was ‘new’ a few centuries ago (in its present form). Similarly, in countries like Scotland, where Catholic devotion was proscribed by the secular government, many ancient practices were lost. Through various circumstances, I became aware of a particular Catholic devotion, which, along with so many others, was either unknown or neglected. This is devotion to the Holy Face.
Saint John Bosco accomplished what many people considered an impossibility; he walked through the streets of Turin, Italy, looking for the dirtiest, roughest urchins he could find, then made good men of them. His extraordinary success can be summed up in the words of his patron Saint, Francis de Sales: The measure of his love was that he loved without measure.
Advent is the time when the Church bids her children to prepare spiritually for the great feast of Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate not only the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, but also the very mystery of the Incarnation whereby the Second Person of the Holy Trinity assumed human nature and was born of our Lady.
Noel! Noel! This was the cry of our fathers when the Faith prevailed, ardent and lively in the bosom of families, institutions, and all of society. That cry has grown very weak in our day, for simple faith has tended to disappear. Nevertheless, of all the Christian feasts, Christmas is perhaps the most beloved and the most popular.
As often stated in these pages, I have resisted the temptation to discuss that terrible period of Scottish history, called ‘the Clearances’ both Highland and Lowland, because it is not, strictly speaking, a specifically Catholic issue.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary was the daughter of the just and pious Andrew II, king of Hungary, the niece of Saint Hedwig, and the sister of the virtuous Bela IV, king of Hungary, who became the father of Saint Cunegundes and of Saint Margaret of Hungary, a Dominican nun.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s famous Declaration of Fidelity. We do well to read it and remind ourselves what battles were fought to preserve and pass on our most pre- cious treasure: the Catholic Faith and the Mass.
For All Missionaries ♦ St Therese of the Child Jesus ♦ I Want Holy God — Little Nellie ♦ Eucharistic devotion ♦ Know Your Mass ♦ The New Testament: Wise Men from the East ♦ The Holy Ghost, Our Great Friend ♦ Holy Souls Corner ♦ My Catholic Faith: General Judgment ♦ Liturgy this month
