What Child is This?

From the late Father Angelus Shaughnessy:

This child is God.

Our Heavenly Father knows how hard it is for us to love somebody we cannot get our arms around. We are supremely happy because our God did become a little bundle of 7 or 8 pounds, so we could get our arms around His Divine Son, to hold Him tight and love Him right.

God is Love! Jesus is Love wrapped in flesh for keeps, forever, for all eternity...to teach us how to love. He came with the irresistible charm of a snuggling infant. His argument still challenges: I loved you first, love me back! He would do anything to get our love, to steal our hearts, even to sneak out of heaven to do so. The only thing this Baby-God would have done more to show His love happened 33 years later: those limbs now fully grown, pinned back to the wood of the cross. You see: He came into this world not to live (He already had life from all eternity) but to die -- for each one of us. He is Jesus, our Saviour.

For us who really believe this Christmas message, every other story about Him is almost easy to believe. Just think what Christmas means: God to become man, Heaven to come down to earth, eternity to invade time, God to take on the human condition (a human soul and a human body) and to keep it even after returning to heaven at His Ascension, in a glorified yet human state. (Read more.)

The Miraculous Birth of Christ

An explanation of the ancient and constant teaching of the Church of Our Lady's painless delivery of Christ. To quote:

...There have questions about whether Mary’s delivery of Christ was: A) painless, and B) left her physical virginity intact. Some have felt that it somehow undermines the humanity of Christ to assert these Catholic beliefs. We must recall that Christ walked on water, was transfigured on Mount Tabor, exited the sepulcher before it was opened, and walked through locked doors. None of these facts undermine the humanity of Christ. Consequently, to believe that Christ exited the womb of the Blessed Mother in a mysterious way is neither credulous or impious. Rather, it is the conviction of the holiest and brightest saints of the Catholic Church. For anyone who would deny the painless and intact nativity of Christ, let us challenge you to produce a citation from any saint or pope who teaches otherwise – that is a text that affirms that the nativity of the Christ Child caused pain to Mary and broke her physical virginity.

After a little research I discovered that of the 33 Doctors of the Church, none deny the painless and intact nativity of Christ. Moreover, at least 20 of the Doctors of the Church explicitly affirm that the birth of Christ was painless and miraculously left Mary’s physical virginity intact. Again, it all goes back to Isaiah 66:7: “before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.” This prophecy refers to Christ plain and simple.

I have assembled the most important texts from the Sacred Scriptures, Fathers, Doctors, Councils, and Popes below. (Read more.)

St. Francis Xavier

From New Advent: 

 Born in the Castle of Xavier near Sanguesa, in Navarre, 7 April, 1506; died on the Island of Sancian near the coast of China, 2 December, 1552. In 1525, having completed a preliminary course of studies in his own country, Francis Xavier went to Paris, where he entered the Collège de Sainte-Barbe. Here he met the Savoyard, Pierre Favre, and a warm personal friendship sprang up between them. It was at this same college that St. Ignatius Loyola, who was already planning the foundation of the Society of Jesus, resided for a time as a guest in 1529. He soon won the confidence of the two young men; first Favre and later Xavier offered themselves with him in the formation of the Society. Four others, Lainez, Salmerón, Rodríguez, and Bobadilla, having joined them, the seven made the famous vow of Montmartre, 15 Aug., 1534. (Read more.)

St. Edmund Campion

Here is the Agnus Dei of the English Jesuit and martyr St. Edmund Campion, whose feast is today. To quote:

....The Agnus Dei [was] carried by St. Edmund Campion on his clandestine missions, and a gift of Pope Gregory VIII. Campion was found hiding in Lynford Grange, Berkshire on July 17, 1581, and was hanged, drawn, and quartered five months later. The Agnus Dei was found wrapped in a list of indulgences stuffed in the rafters of Lynford Grange when the roof underwent renovation in 1959. Fr. Nicholas Schofield has blogged of Stonyhurst's collection here.