"The Twelve Ways Of Christmas"

Christmas is a yearly reality check. The lessons of Christmas are so counterintuitive that even after we have celebrated Christmas in society for centuries, and in our homes our whole lives, when each Christmas comes it’s like we are learning its lessons for the first time.

Here are 12 Christmas virtues our culture tends to forget. Call them the 12 ways of Christmas.

1. God loves a good story. Far from being opposed or alien to human nature, God shares our love of a good story. He could have become a man any way he wanted. He chose to be born in a stable, to a couple far from their home, surrounded by animals, shepherds and Magi, pursued by a wicked king.

2. God loses battles but wins wars. In his day, Herod was Christmas’s formidable enemy. He lied to the Magi and ordered a massacre of innocents, becoming an angel of death in Bethlehem as he killed all newborn boys to try to eliminate Jesus. In our day Christmas is still under attack, though in America the attacks aren’t violent, thank God. Christmas will win in the end, because God wins even through apparent defeats.......

National Catholic Register reviews the 12 Ways on their blog.

"A Visit From The Christ Child"

Twas the morning of Christmas, when all through the house
All the family was frantic, including my spouse;
For each one of them had one thing only in mind,
To examine the presents St. Nick left behind.

The boxes and wrapping and ribbons and toys
Were strewn on the floor, and the volume of noise
Increased as our children began a big fight
Over who got the video games, who got the bike.

I looked at my watch and I said, slightly nervous,
"Let's get ready for church, so we won't miss the service."
The children protested, "We don't want to pray:
We've just got our presents, and we want to play!"

It dawned on me then that we had gone astray,
In confusing the purpose of this special day;
Our presents were many and very high-priced
But something was missing -- that something was Christ!
I said, "Put the gifts down and let's gather together,
And I'll tell you a tale of the greatest gift ever.

"A savior was promised when Adam first sinned,
And the hopes of the world upon Jesus were pinned.
Abraham begat Isaac, who Jacob begat,
And through David the line went to Joseph, whereat
This carpenter married a maiden with child,
Who yet was a virgin, in no way defiled.

"Saying 'Hail, full of Grace,' an archangel appeared
To Mary the Blessed, among women revered:
The Lord willed she would bear -- through the Spirit -- a son.
Said Mary to Gabriel, 'God's will be done.'

"Now Caesar commanded a tax would be paid,
And all would go home while the census was made;
Thus Joseph and Mary did leave Galilee
For the city of David to pay this new fee.

"Mary's time had arrived, but the inn had no room,
So she laid in a manger the fruit of her womb;
And both Joseph and Mary admired as He napped
The Light of the World in his swaddling clothes wrapped.

"Three wise men from the East had come looking for news
Of the birth of the Savior, the King of the Jews;
They carried great gifts as they followed a star --
Gold, frankincense, myrrh, which they'd brought from afar.

"As the shepherds watched over their flocks on that night,
The glory of God shone upon them quite bright,
And an angel explained the intent of the birth,
Saying, 'Glory to God and His peace to the earth.'

"For this was the Messiah whom prophets foretold,
A good shepherd to bring his sheep back to the fold;
He was God become man, He would die on the cross,
He would rise from the dead to restore Adam's loss.

"Santa Claus, Christmas presents, a brightly lit pine,
Candy canes and spiked eggnog are all very fine;
Let's have fun celebrating, but leave not a doubt
That Christ is what Christmas is really about!"

The children right then put an end to the noise,
They dressed quickly for church, put away all their toys;
For they knew Jesus loved them and said they were glad
That He'd died for their sins, and to save their dear Dad.



©1986 F.R. Duplantier

Christmas Prayer For the Troops and Their Families

Free Republic

Lord God, there is no other God but You. You alone are Savior. You alone are Redeemer. When we trust in You, when we fear You alone, there You are, by our sides, protecting, providing in Your ever-perfect Way….especially when we do not understand.

Lord God, You came on that first Christmas as the Prince of Peace – not the Prince of peace as the world defines it but the peace which You bring to tortured souls, the peace which surpasses understanding and the peace between Jew and Gentile that anyone, yes, anyone who proclaims belief in You as Savior and bows to You as Lord may enter into the supreme goodness of eternity with You.

Lord God, You are God, therefore Your ways are not our own. Yours are higher, better. They must be or You are not God. Lord God, the world wants peace, but the peace it seeks is not to be found so long as we are on this earth. When Adam and Eve chose to obey their own wills instead of Yours, they set themselves under the dominion of the evil one, who is greater than we and less, less, less than You!!! This adversary roams the world, looking to destroy, looking to conquer.

Lord God, so long as we are on earth, though we do not want war, times will come and come again where we must stand and fight. Lord God, every generation has paid this high price for freedom in some way and now it is our turn. Lord God, bless each and every military member and family who so valiantly serve this nation and the world, drawing the line and saying no more to those who would exact terror on the rest of us and force us to submit to their way of life or be killed.

Lord God, draw each and every troop and their families closer to You this Christmas. Give them greater understanding of who You are and the mission they serve – for our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Lord God, show Yourself to them, help them understand how You protect, how You provide and how they can trust in You.

Lord God, be with the families. Send Your angels not only to those on the battlefields, but every family at home this Christmas who has someone they love deployed and especially be with our Gold Star families.. Stand by them and be their comfort this Christmas as they journey through the loneliness of grief. Lord God only You can reach deep inside where the hurt is and slowly, slowly bring the healing. Give each of them a purpose from You which helps them keep going, though often it is the hardest thing they have ever had to do.

And Lord God, be with each of our wounded warriors. Heal them spiritually, emotionally, as well as physically. Give their doctors great wisdom and give them comrades beside them so they m ay encourage one another. Bless also each of our veterans and let them feel Your love around them this Christmas.

Lord God, provide now the way for victory in this war. The adversary may be more clever than we are, but You are Sovereign and You are Supreme. Therefore we bow to You and ask You to give our Generals, Admirals and Leaders Your strategy to make progress to victory. Lord God, we can’t do this without You. By Your Holy Spirit speak to them. Guide and direct them and bring them all home safely. We are so grateful for their service. In Jesus’ precious and mighty name, Amen

Joyeux Noel ! Our King Is Born!

The Nativity Icon Explained

Christmas Spirit (Canada)

(xxxx to be Canadian):

Liberal mainstream media front page of the day award (no I won’t create a graphic for that) goes to National Post, for breaking all the rules in the Liberal Media Handbook, pissing off most of their “journalists” and staff, and much of their reader base in the process, and going with a religious-friendly theme—CHRISTIAN!—on their entire front page today, in honor of—get this—Christmas. Wow. Amazing. And beautiful.

Honorable mention goes to these others .......:

Re-Branding Conservatives...Canadian Style

David Warren:

Mr. Harper, we have learned, can be a rather nasty operator in close-order political fighting. So what is he doing, appointing all these nice, not to say vapid people, to whom no one can object, except “on principle”? He is stacking the Senate with reliable Tory votes, to be sure—that is his urgent necessity, and he’s still 20 votes short—but what is the message in his particular choice of Christmas presents?

My reader didn’t think he was going to reward people who had shown great courage in public life, did you? Who had made reckless sacrifices for the Tory party; who had taken innumerable hits for the team, and risen consistently above craven personal interest? No: only a bigger man would take that kind of risk.

To my view, Mr. Harper wants nice ineffectual people, who can be bought without knowing they were ever for sale; and whom everybody likes. He wants people who won’t get in his way, while he is manoeuvring; who don’t have ambitions of their own.

I think this is part of the “re-branding” of conservatism, that Mr. Harper is doing up here; what many urbane Republicans now call for, down south of the border. The idea is to take the “meanness” out of conservatism itself, to strip off the Christian or pro-life or “social-conservative” edge. The focus groups want “nice,” we have heard. Down south, Bush Elder tried to deliver this with “kinder and gentler,” his son with the word “compassionate.” But electoral success may now demand more concessions!

The conservative view is founded in personal (as opposed to collective) responsibility; in actual independence and freedom, against a background of fixed moral principles (not relativism). That is the steel in it: why it works. Take away this steel, and replace it with fluff and padding, and presto, you have a much more saleable, “people-friendly” product. Add a few entitlements the competition hasn’t thought of yet, and you are back on the road.

The product becomes interchangeable with every other off the shelf, to the clients of the Nanny State, but at least it is in the supermarket. It is useless in emergencies (as Bush Junior quickly found), but hey, it gets you through the happy times.

As ever, I argue we should move backwards: return to the old brand. Go out and sell personal responsibility; sell the manly virtues. This is rapidly becoming a survival issue, not a “positioning” thing. And part of the sales pitch is, don’t flinch—just as you wouldn’t flinch in saying, “Merry Christmas!”

"I Saw Three Ships"

Aled Jones with the Royal College Of Music Chamber Choir

Merry Christmas

There have been 97,928 babies aborted in Canada so far this year.

(Our abortion counter was formulated using annual Stats Canada figures.)

Apparently it is now the official national Canadian position to celebrate abortion; and we are now duty-bound in this country to officially celebrate abortionists.

Please think and behave correctly.

(xxxx to Be Canadian)

Good News

49 Legionairies of Christ ordained to the priesthood Dec. 20.

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"Stille Nacht"

The original version of the world famous "Silent Night" by Franz Xaver Gruber as sung by the Innsbrucker Capellknaben

The Inside Scoop

A view of the European Leaders as they truly are - tyrannical.





Well, if it was said behind closed doors it doesn't count, right? And shouldn't those newcomers regard the EU flag as superior to their own? Shouldn't they?

Hang in there Ireland.


See also:
Czechs Stand Up

EU Rhymes With Screw You

(h/t SDA)

A Quiet Mission

(WT)

For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country...

I can't help it. I like that man.(Bush)

"Its About The Cross"

Go Fish (www.gofishguys.com)

"Hope and Change Fulfilled"

From "The Nose On Your Face",entry in the 'Anti-SNL Comedy Video Contest'.



(h/t newsbusters via twitter)

"Hopey Changemas"

...Steynism of the day!

Mark Steyn :

....General Motors now has a market valuation about a third of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and no one says your Swash 700 Elongated Biscuit Toilet Seat Bidet is too big to fail. GM has a market capitalization of about $2.4 billion. For purposes of comparison, Toyota's market cap is $100 billion and change (the change being bigger than the whole of GM). General Motors, like the other two geezers of the Old Three, is a vast retirement home with a small money-losing auto subsidiary. The UAW is AARP in an Edsel: It has three times as many retirees and widows as "workers" (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people.

How do you make that math add up? Not by selling cars: Honda and Nissan make a pretax operating profit per vehicle of around $1,600; Ford, Chrysler and GM make a loss of $500 to $1,500. That's to say, they lose money on every vehicle they sell. Like Henry Ford said, you can get it in any color as long as it's red....

(h/t rightgirl)

"Grown-Up Christmas List"

(via FB 'Priests For Life')

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

One of the Christmas songs you'll hear on the radio during these days is called "Grown-up Christmas List." It speaks of the fact that age does not stop us from dreaming, and that as life goes on, our wishes at Christmas are not for ourselves, "but for a world in need." The list begins, "No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start…that right would always win."

Do we dare to hope for these things, just because the calendar says December 25 is approaching?

Indeed, the question for a Christian is, "How we can dare not to hope for these things?" Christmas lists, after all, spring from Christmas hope, and Christmas hope is based on an historical fact: God has already given us everything in His Son. St. Paul asks, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).

We look for good things in life, and good things are all around us. Yet the best of good things does not satisfy us completely. The best relationships leave something to be desired, and the best vacations always end and leave us looking forward to the next one. This is because every good thing is just a reflection of goodness itself.

In the birth of Christ, we find that total, infinite goodness. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being" (Heb. 1:3). In the birth of Jesus Christ, almighty God has given to the human family His last, best offer of hope.

The wonder of Christmas, in fact, is that the promised coming of the Messiah of the Lord was fulfilled in a surprising way that surpassed the hopes and dreams of the people of old. On the first Christmas night, angels announced Christ's birth to the shepherds. But instead of saying that Jesus was the Messiah of the Lord, they said that He is "Messiah and Lord" (Lk. 2:11). God, in other words, did not simply send someone to represent Him. He came Himself!

Christmas is not about the birth of a child who became a great man. It is about a God who created the human family, and then decided to become a member of that family. Christmas is not when Jesus began; it is when Jesus began existing as one of us, and thereby joined all of us to Himself. He joins to His Divinity all who share human nature: the weak and strong, the small and big, the born and unborn. Christmas is universal, and is about the exaltation of the human person.

That's why our "grown-up Christmas list" can say "no more lives torn apart" -- whether by abortion or anything else. Christmas lists spring from Christmas hope, and Christmas is all about the victory of life!

Cdn Physicians For Life

The Fall/Winter edition of 'Vital Signs' (here), features an article on how well the Gov't has served the Canadian public by not bothering to create an abortion policy, and the negative impact this lack of policy has had on the health of women. Also featured is an article by Andrea Mrozec (ProWomanProLife) reporting on the 'Morgentaler Symposium' celebrating this same 20 years of lawlessness (ironically co-hosted by the Univ.Toronto Law Faculty).

Canadian Heroes

.... at Canadian Heroes we aim to memorialize those who have fallen in Afghanistan and to offer respect and sympathy to their families. After all, it is their loved ones who must continue to bear the burden for the rest of their days ... so in a very real way, they sacrifice for this country as well.

We see how willing our soldiers are to go into harm's way ... how dependable they are, how courageous. We marvel at their dedication not only to their peers and country, but to the mission they've been sent to perform....

"Why Canada Needs An Abortion Policy"

In this timely essay, Joseph C. Ben-Ami shows how out of step Canada is with the international community on the subject of abortion and explains how, moral and ethical issues aside, the lack of a coherent policy in Canada is seriously undermining practical efforts to control a re-emerging eugenics industry and end discriminatory practices such as gender-selection abortion.

Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity

A voice from the unheard voices of the Christians of the Middle East who have been witnessing to faith in the Saviour since His incarnation in their midst.

"Stop The Abortion Bailout!"

Susan B. Anthony :

Abortion groups have submitted their 50 page proposal to the Obama-Biden transition team. At the top of the list? More taxpayer dollars for abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood. How much more? Over 1.5 billion dollars more!

The Abortion Bailout Package:

$1 BILLION dollars in taxpayer funding for International Abortion Groups
$700 million in taxpayer funding for “Title X” Health Clinics (aka your local Planned Parenthood affiliate)
$65 million for the UNFPA, an international aid organization connected to coercive abortion as part of China’s coercive one-child policy
Repeal the Hyde Amendment – Vastly expanding federal taxpayer funding for abortions
Include Abortion coverage in any taxpayer-subsidized national health care program
Expand taxpayer-funded abortions on military bases
Expand taxpayer-funded abortions through the Peace Corps program
Expand taxpayer-funded abortions for federal prisoners

Send a letter to your Senators today demanding that they keep your tax dollars out of the pockets of abortion providers.

(easy action )

Thanks Again Mr. Charest

Well, Quebeckers like to keep things interesting, non?

NP:

A new religion course taught in schools across Quebec was intended to improve inter-cultural understanding, but so far it is generating deep division as hundreds of parents pull their children out of class....

....Stéphanie Tremblay, a spokeswoman for Quebec's Education Department, said school boards across the province have received and rejected more than 1,400 requests from public-school parents seeking to have their children exempted from taking the course. The dissenters represent a small minority of the one million children enrolled in public schools.....

"The course was designed with an eye to respecting the freedom of conscience and religion of all students," she said. "It is not a religious instruction course. It is religious culture. We introduce young people to religious culture like we introduce them to musical culture. The goal is to better know and understand others."....

Meanwhile...

The new course is also mandatory in private schools, and Montreal's Loyola High School has initiated its own court challenge. Parents of more than 600 of the Jesuit school's students asked to have their children exempted from the course, and all were refused by the province.

Paul Donovan, the school's principal, said much of the curriculum is already taught at Loyola, but not in the "relativistic" way favoured by the Education Department.

He said the course does not ask children to distinguish between right and wrong. "What it essentially says is that religion is just, ‘You like tomato soup and I like pea soup, so don't be all offended because someone likes tomato soup. It's really just a matter of preference,' " he said. "Religion could be Wiccan or Raelian or any of the new movements or atheism or agnosticism."

So far Loyola has refused to teach the Ethics and Religious Culture class. "I can't tell my teachers to teach that course in conscience. I can't," Mr. Donovan said.

I don't think Ms. Stephanie really understands the concepts of 'parental perogative' and 'freedom of religion' - or for that matter, 'culture'!

How many more self immolating 'reforms' will Quebec endure under the rule of Monsieur Charest?

(see also)

ProLife Leader Paul Weyrich Leaves Legacy of Good Works

LifeSiteNews:Washington, D.C., December 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com):

Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old.

Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins made the following comments in his daily radio commentary Washington Watch Daily:

"My good friend Paul Weyrich is gone. He was just sixty-six years old. Many people will be surprised at that. That's because we've watched Paul for decades as he battled diabetes, as he suffered amputations, but never, never any loss of his fighting spirit. Paul Weyrich has been a fixture in Washington, D.C. for more than thirty years. He fathered the religious conservative movement in American politics. He didn't over-intellectualize about Christians ‘jumping into the fray.’ He recognized early that the fray had jumped onto us. Liberal bureaucrats were coming after us-in our churches, in our schools, and in our families. Wherever a Planned Parenthood worker is breaking parents' hearts by leading their children into sin, we have a grievance against our government. Paul Weyrich was the first to show us how we could effectively petition our government for redress of our grievances. May our Lord keep His servant, Paul. And I pray our Lord will also comfort the loving Weyrich family."

CLC leader Jim Hughes was upset at the news. Speaking of Weyrich, a friend, Hughes said "he was one of the foremost conservative thinkers in the US and it's a tremendous loss to the life and family community."

Wifely Obedience

Quite an interesting article at Red Cardigan

:...Perhaps it's a spending issue--we want to buy something for the home, but our husbands think that the current item is perfectly good and doesn't need replacing. Perhaps it's a division of labor issue--we might believe that some particular task ought to be his responsibility, but he expects us to take care of it. Perhaps it's an educational issue--we want to switch to a different math textbook, but our husbands believe that the program already in use is superior and that we just need to work harder to make it appeal to the child. Or perhaps it has to do with dozens of other things, such as housework, family relationships, leisure time, involvement in parish groups or ministries, involvement in clubs or organizations, even the way we pray as a family; all of those are areas where a wife and husband may disagree, and a wife may eventually be called to obedience....

...How do we know when to obey our husbands, when to humor them out of love, and when to make a stand? Again, we look to the good of the family: if what they are asking is an important thing that is ordered toward the family's good, we ought to do it; if it's a less important thing or if it isn't really ordered toward the good of the family we may need to humor them, depending on the situation. But if what our husbands want is something disordered, or ordered against the good of the family, we must insist that this not be done, and not only owe no obedience, but could even be more in danger of sinning if we give it....

(h/t Creative Minority)

I agree in principle. In practice I sometimes lack the humility to put the good of my husband and my family before my emotional reaction to the situation at hand,(I believe the 'code' for that is LOVE!) but I keep improving. By the time we reach our 50th, I'll be a very good wife!

The Advent Antiphons

CHIESA:

...From (Dec.17) until the day before Christmas Eve, at the Magnificat during vespers in the Roman rite, seven antiphons are sung, one per day, all of them beginning with an invocation to Jesus, although he is never called by name.

The antiphons are very old, going back to the time of Pope Gregory the Great, around the year 600. They are in Latin, and are inspired by the texts of the Old Testament proclaiming the Messiah.

At the beginning of each antiphon, in order, Jesus is invoked as Wisdom, Lord, Root, Key, Star, King, Emmanuel. In Latin: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix, Clavis, Oriens, Rex, Emmanuel.

Read starting from the last, the Latin initials of these words form an acrostic: "Ero cras," meaning: "I will be [there] tomorrow." It is the proclamation of the Lord who comes. The last antiphon, which completes the acrostic, is sung on December 23, and the following day, with first vespers, the feast of the Nativity begins...

(h/t First Things)