Reflection Starter from Charles Dickens

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." - Charles Dickens

Anne Murray: "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"

As we enter into our celebration of Christmas, I offer this version of Anne Murray presenting "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear":

Tom Hoopes on Ways Christmas is Counter-Cultural

"The lessons of Christmas are like a miracle. They are well known to us - but still have the power to come as a shock each year, as if we had never heard them before.

"Christmas is counter-cultural in significant ways, and by meditating on Jesus and the creche we can heal places in our heart where we have allowed the ways of the world to make us callous."

In a recent commentary, Tom Hoopes (writer in residence at Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas) offered a number of ways in which Christmas is counter-cultural (including Christmas putting politics in perspective and Christmas teaching that babies are important).

To access his complete essay, please visit:

The Gregorian Blog: Five Ways Christmas is Counter-Cultural (17 DEC 19)

Naughty/Nice Radar Speed Signs in Chester, VT

"Radar speed signs in Chester, Vt., are reminding drivers to slow down and get in the holiday spirit.

"The Chester Police Department recently posted photos on Facebook of signs on Route 103 that tell motorists that they’re 'NAUGHTY' if they’re driving more than 30 miles per hour. Illuminated red numbers show how fast they’re going.

"For motorists traveling under the speed limit, the word 'NICE' appears and the numbers appear in green."

A recent article in The Boston Globe reported on this initiative by the Chester Police Department.

To access the complete Boston Globe report, please visit: 

The Boston Globe: Radar speed signs in Vermont tell drivers if they're 'naughty' or 'nice' (19 DEC 19) 

Background information: 

Chester Police Department 

Town of Chester 

Facebook: Chester, VT Town Office

Wikipedia: Chester, Vermont

On a Santa Claus Ministry in Milwaukee

"For passengers getting on the bus in Milwaukee recently, it felt like boarding a bus to crazy town.

"'I said what? This is a dream or something,' one passenger said.

"But it wasn't a dream. The drivers were real elves working for the real Secret Santa. Secret Santa is an anonymous, wealthy businessman who every year travels the country giving out $100, $200, sometimes $300 to random strangers. He usually finds his targets in thrift stores."

A recent CBS News "On the Road" segment reported on this Santa Claus ministry in Milwaukee, WI.

To access the complete report, please visit:

CBS News: On the Road: Secret Santa recruits Milwaukee bus drivers to give out thousands of dollars to passengers (6 DEC 19)

"The House of Christmas"

"The House of Christmas"
by G. K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost - how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wives' tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound: "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas"

As we continue to live this week, I offer this version of Ernie Haase & Signature Sound presenting "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas":

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of Christmas traditions.

Br. Josemaría Guzmán-Domínguez, O.P., on Jesus Being Born into Poverty

"We tend to romanticize Christ's birth. The sweetness of our carols, crèches, and Christmas cookies often leads us to think that the first Christmas was equally sweet.

"We forget Joseph toiled to find a place for Mary to give birth. We don't remember how Our Lady suffered the wintry cold. We feel comfortable when we recall the cave where Christ was born. But it doesn't cross our mind that the straw the Infant slept on 'probably stank as old straw stinks in stables' (Catherine Doherty). We forget, in a word, that Jesus Christ was born into poverty."

In a recent commentary, Brother Josemaría Guzmán-Domínguez, O.P., reflected on the importance, as we participate in our Christmas traditions, of not forgeting "Christ's poverty, and his (our) poor brothers and sisters he came to fill."

To access Br. Josemaría's complete post, please visit:

Dominicana: Born into Poverty (24 DEC 19)

Reflection Starter from Pope Francis

"God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it." - Pope Francis

Tennessee Ernie Ford: "The Ballad Of Davy Crockett"

Music of various types has been interwoven into the history of the United States (going back to the original thirteen colonies). One of these songs is the folk song "The Ballad Of Davy Crockett," presented here by Tennessee Ernie Ford:

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the examples of faith You have given us through our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Joseph.