In this, our year-end edition, we traditionally suspend our regular features to present special Christmas Messages from our outstanding regular contributing writers. Other features, series and articles will resume with our January 5th issue in 2003.
Editor Michael Cain and his bride Cyndi present a present to contemplate: From the wood of the manger to the wood of the cross Jesus made it possible for everyone of us to know Him, love Him and be happy with Him in this world and the next. If only we would. They share in One Solitary Life
Father Louis Campbell reveals in his poignant sermon for Christmas how the world's rejection of providing a place for the Holy Family was, in reality, a great blessing for those who embrace the fullness of Christ's coming the first time and the significance of His awaited Second Coming. Father explains in his sermon for the Nativity No Room In the Inn. As a Christmas bonus, he also provides for the following Sunday Within the Octave his sermon "Good Tidings of Great Joy!"
Atila Sinke Guimarães delves beneath all the glitter and hype to discover the quiet truth reflected in the faces of the nativity figures in a small creche in his office. He shares the awe and wonders of the simple creche scene as he shares the journey with us in which in total supernatural peace he sailed into meditative calm In a Sea of Peace.
Dr. Marian Therese Horvat focuses on a special nativity icon that carries miraculous history with it in a church where the altar was erected in Rome for the future Infant-God by none other than the pagan Roman Emperor Caesar Octavian Augustus before the Christ-child was born. It remains today to commemorate the King of Kings born in his reign as Marian explains in Ara Coeli - The Altar of the Heavens for the Santo Bambino.
Dr. Thomas Droleskey delves into the meaning of the liturgical calendar in relation to the Birth of the Savior and how, in her wisdom, Holy Mother Church established such a perfect plan of the liturgy for the Christmas Season. Tom explains that If our life is not Christ-centered in every waking way then chaos will prevail precicely because the Christ-child has been abandoned, ignored, mocked, and reviled as he explains in
Behold the Child
Dr. Edward Ciaccio illustrates the meaning of family and how it relates to the Holy Family in all aspects and that it is in our exemplification of role models in our lives that will determine if our family ties with the Holy Family are strong, lasting, and bear good fruit as he shows in The Holy Family
Mario Derksen points out what the word "Christmas" means. It is "Christ's Mass" and so many have forgotten that. Like the secularization of Christmas, the New Order of the Mass has abandoned the traditions. Mario asserts that those, who profess the meaning of Christmas in word while in deed deny it, are lukewarm Scrooges who fail to comprehend the Angels' mission to announce the Feast of God, not man. He explains in The Reason for the Season: CHRIST'S MASS!"
Dr. Frank Joseph emphasizes that no present is more important than being able to breathe and proclaim Christ is God. For those who do not place at the foot of the holy manger the vital Christmas gift of praying, upholding, and fighting for the lives of the unborn, they can well expect the prospect of receiving, in God's time, the lumps of eternal coal in the infernal furnace as Frank affirms in The Gift of Life.
Catharine Lamb shares cultural customs of Christmas that have been in vogue for centuries. No matter our roots, race or culture, the universality of the Mother tongue of the Church has always provided a sense of total unity through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Just as the Christ Child was the unifying force for good, so also the Latin Mass is the unifier of preserving all that has been taught and passed down. She shows how this is not possible in the New Rite called the vernacualr Novus Ordo in Have Yourself a Multicultural Christmas