THE shepherds sing; and shall I silent be? My God, no hymn for thee? My soul ’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds Of thoughts, and words, and deeds. The pasture is thy word: the streams, thy grace Enriching all the place. Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers Out-sing the day-light houres. Then we will chide the sunne for letting night Take up his place and right: We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should Himself the candle hold. I will go searching, till I finde a sunne Shall stay, till we have done; A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly, As frost-nipt sunnes look sadly. Then we will sing, shine all our own day, And one another pay: His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine, Till ev’n his beams sing, and my musick shine. --- from "Christmas," The Temple (1633), by George Herbert  

[Reposted]

ALAN writes:

A series of memories dating back many decades of Christmastime in St. Louis include:

The cold, pervasive, mysterious darkness that lay just beyond our living room windows on Christmas Eve nights in the 1950s and that stood in such contrast to the light, the warmth, the laughter, the conversation and the Christmas cheer that filled that room, and to the soothing voices of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Gene Autry on the 78-rpm Christmas records I played at age five while seated on the floor;

My grandfather reacting gratefully and gracefully when he received a modest gift from one of his children; having never expected much from life and being content with the basic necessities, he appreciated even a few simple, utilitarian gifts;

The two, tall, glass-enclosed candles that stood alit on our mantel every Christmas Eve;

The big evergreen Christmas tree in Aunt Lydia’s apartment in 1955 that stood as high as the ceiling;

Christmas visits at the home of cousin Carmella and her family of six children, evenings ending invariably with Christmas cookies and milk and coffee at their kitchen table;

Being taken by my father to see the huge Christmas trees in the lobby of the Missouri Athletic Club and the German House in St. Louis in the 1950s; (more…)

 EV'RY star in heaven is singing, All through the night, Hear the glorious music ringing, All through the night. Songs of sweet ethereal lightness, Wrought in realms of peace and whiteness; See, the dark gives way to brightness, All through the night. Look, my love, the stars are smiling, All through the night. Lighting, soothing and beguiling, Earth's sombre plight: So, when age brings grief and sorrow, From each other we can borrow Faith in our sublime tomorrow, All through the night (A. G. Prys-Jones, Ar hyd y nos)  

     Link

 OBSERVE the contempt that greets black commentator Jesse Lee Peterson on the Dr. Phil Show as Peterson argues that the government is destroying fertility, especially that of whites. The decline in the white birth rate is a disaster and will not benefit other races, he claims. The white women in the audience are unperturbed by comments by the eugenicist Les Knight, who says the government should subsidize sterilization services for people in their early 2os. They glare with hatred when Peterson defends procreation.  

“WE might note here that Pius IX, who defined Mary’s Immaculate Conception, had been an epileptic. Even though he had severe seizures he was allowed to remain on at the Seminary, but was told he could never be ordained. He prayed and begged our Lady to cure him of epilepsy. For some time before the perspective ordination he had no seizures. The then Pope intervened and reluctantly allowed him to be ordained, under one condition: that he would never offer Mass alone, but would always for the rest of his life have a Priest next to him in case during Mass he would have another seizure. Now as a Priest he prayed: “Mary, no more seizures, please. Also, would you please spare me the embarrassment and inconvenience of never being allowed to offer Mass without another Priest at my side.” (more…)

"[T]HE close ties which were to unite the Son of God with Mary, and which would elicit from Him the tenderest love and the most filial reverence for her, had been present to the divine thought from all eternity: and the conclusion forces itself upon us that therefore the divine Word had for this His future Mother a love infinitely greater than that which He bore to all His other creatures." -- Dom Prosper Guéranger, "The Immaculate Conception," The Liturgical Year  

"Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies." --- St. Ambrose  

CHRISTIANS FOR TRUTH reports that Amazon will not be censoring the allegedly anti-semitic documentary Hebrews to Negroes:

Jews know that the cat is out of the proverbial bag — and that everyone — from Van Morrison to mothers at PTA meetings — knows they control the media and Hollywood — and every time they try to deny it, they merely put their collective foot in their mouths and prove that they do.

Perhaps if there were as smart as they think they are, they’d stop having a meltdown every time someone says something remotely unflattering about Jews, and just ignore it or laugh it off — the way Larry David did when everyone noticed that Jews were at the center of the sexual harassment scandal in Hollywood [skip ahead to 3:45 into his monologue].

Because the more they deny the obvious, the more hostility and distrust they create for themselves — as the Jewish CEO of Amazon has clearly figured out.

By trying to destroy Kanye West — costing him billions in lost product endorsements — merely proves that Jews — uniquely — have the collective power to do so.

The grandfather of Zionism — Theodore Herzl — laid out the cold, hard facts about the Jews and their financial power: (more…)

SEE Part II here.

IT happens again and again: An uppity brat coached in supposed realism by his parents or an older sibling comes into his kindergarten class a few weeks before Christmas. He tells his classmates the brutal truth: Santa Claus does not exist. Tears, panic and existential shock ensue. Children return home to interrogate their parents. The parents are put in a difficult spot. They themselves believe Santa isn't real. So they are forced to lie or to puncture the most beautiful of fairy tales. It happens over and over again. Sensitive children feel betrayed. Brats rejoice in their power over the mystery and enchantment of Christmas. A solution to this reoccurring scenario is all too obvious. We must tell children the truth. The truth is, Santa Claus does exist. Here is his story: His name is St. Nicholas. On earth, he lived in the fourth century in a town near the Aegean Sea, in what is today Turkey. He became an orphan when very young. From an early age, he loved the Christ Child deeply. So great was his love, he wanted to help the poor and suffering always. His parents had been well off and he distributed the money he inherited to people in want. He wanted to give gifts more than anything else. He liked to give gifts at night when no one could see him because he was humble and did not want to receive any credit or…

"BEHOLD, you have heard Who He is that comes; consider now whence and to whom He comes. He comes from the heart of God the Father to the womb of a virgin mother; He comes from the highest heaven to this low earth, that we whose conversation is now on earth may have Him for our most desirable companion. For where can it be well with us without Him, and where ill if He be present; What have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion for ever and though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; if only thou art with me." --- Sermons of St. Bernard on Advent  

FROM Cliff Kincaid’s 2017 article, “Why the Russians Conceived the Global Warming Scam:”

One of my duties at Accuracy in Media (AIM) has been to expose left-wingers in the media and Congress who were soft on the old Soviet Union and are now acting like hard-liners on Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It is a fascinating topic which exposes the duplicity of the left-wing obsession with Russia.

These people, who were soft on the Soviet Union and now hard on Russia, are the worst kind of hypocrites. Their hypocrisy is further demonstrated by the abundant evidence that the global warming or climate change theory, which they now embrace, was conceived by Soviet communists as a means by which to destroy the industrial base in the United States. This disinformation theme has been embraced by the liberals now claiming to be tough on Russia.

Don’t take my word for it. When Natalie Grant Wraga died in 2002 at the age of 101, The Washington Post recognized her expertise as a Soviet expert, noting that she was “born in czarist Russia, saw great upheaval in her native land and became an expert in unmasking Soviet deception methods for the State Department…”

[…]

One of the great Soviet/Russian deceptions, Wraga wrote, was the idea that humans were changing the climate and that humans could save the earth through socialism. She said, “…protection of the environment has become the principal tool for attack against the West.

Read more. (more…)

[Reposted from Dec. 24, 2020]

AS WE FACE the Ebenezer Scrooges of Christmas, 2020, with their tyrannical and paranoid condemnation of joy and festive traditions, it’s worth remembering that all this is not without precedent in America.

The early Puritans were not lovers of Christmas celebrations, which they considered sinful, wasteful, sacrilegious and a wicked product of the Catholic Church. They explicitly banned them.

“On the first Dec. 25 the settlers spent in Plymouth Colony, they worked in the fields as they would on any other day. The next year, a group of non-Puritan workmen caught celebrating Christmas with a game of ‘stoole-ball’ — an early precursor of baseball — were punished by Gov. William Bradford. ‘My conscience cannot let you play while everybody else is out working,’ he told them.” Source

This had already been done by their co-religionists in England.

In medieval times and up until the mid-17th century, Christmas, preceded by the penitential season of Advent, was celebrated in England with majestic liturgies, overflowing feasts and twelve days of sports, music, dancing, theatrics and general fun. The common man was the beneficiary of many days of leisure, prayer and feasting with roast beef, goose and mincemeat pies in rooms festooned with holly and ivy.

In the 1600s, after the ascent to power of Oliver Cromwell in 1645, the English Puritans in government abolished Christmas in the parts of the country under their control. This campaign against observance of the holy day was a top-down revolution, like the Protestant Revolution itself. It did not emanate from a popular rejection of religious customs, which inspired widespread devotion, but from a determined oligarchy pursuing the assets, influence and power of the Church. The people in some places rioted against the government’s decrees against Christmas. (Sound familiar?)

Christmas, you see, is an inherent threat to despotism. Government cannot easily control a joyful and God-centered people. Tyrants have nothing to gain from piety, hopes of eternity and simple pleasures — and much to lose from them.

The Puritans in early America followed suit with bans on Christmas celebrations. How close they seem now from here in Pennsylvania, where all restaurants and bars have been ordered closed by the government, and from all across America, where many observances have been cut off as a result of government scolding or decree. Mark Stoyle, writing in the BBC History Magazine has details: (more…)

 "NOW during the season of Advent, our Lord knocks at the door of all men's hearts, at one time so forcibly that they must needs notice him; at another, so softly that it requires attention to know that Jesus is asking admission. He comes to ask them if they have room for him, for he wishes to be born in their house." -- Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year