by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“… St. Xavier ranks among the greatest missionaries in Christian history. Historians place the number of baptisms at roughly 30,000 people; lore cites numbers up to 100,000. Today, such missionary accomplishments may be challenging to appreciate in light of present day plurality, cultural relativism, and global engagement, yet a great deal can be learned from Xavier in the way he
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“For those of you who will be lighting an Advent ‘wreath’ this weekend, especially with tapers… remember to start with the purple candle ‘opposite’ the pink one in order for the progression to the pink one for the third week to look accurate. This also makes the candles burn down in successive order, which makes the visual impact of the
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“Every Advent, the Liturgy of the Word gives our sense of time a reorientation. There’s a deliberate tension in the next four weeks’ readings—between promise and fulfillment, expectation and deliverance, between looking forward and looking back. …”
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“As we look toward Christmas and ponder the Incarnation, we ought to remember that so profound was truth of the incarnation that the early Church fell to her knees at these words: ‘and He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit, from the virgin Mary, and became man.’ This act of falling to one’s knees at these words is still practiced
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“… The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. The final days of Advent, from December 17 to December 24, focus particularly on our preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord
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“Saint Andrew’s feast day is today! This feast is the marker that determines the start of Advent. The first Sunday of Advent begins on the Sunday closest to (or on) November 30th, St Andrew’s feast day. That explains the first part of the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena’s name. The second part simply refers to when the novena ends. On Christmas.
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O Glorious Saint Andrew, you were the first to recognize and follow the Lamb of God. With your friend Saint John you remained with Jesus for that first day, for your entire life, and now throughout eternity. As you led your brother Saint Peter to Christ and many others after him, draw us also to Him. Teach us to lead
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Andrew, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, was the first disciple of our Lord. Prior to coming to Jesus, Andrew had been a follower or disciple of John the Baptist. One day while walking with John, Jesus passed by. St. John, seeing Jesus, pointed Him out to Andrew and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Realizing that John was saying that
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“… He, the obedient Servant, is King because He has ‘the keys of death and Hades’ (Rv 1:18). And, because He is the conqueror of death, hell and Satan, He is “the ruler of kings on earth” (Rv 1:5). In fact, everything on earth is subject to death. Instead, He who has power over death opens the prospect of immortal
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“The Thanksgiving holiday that is upon us, while religious in theme, has a secular origin. Two presidents, Washington and Lincoln, are most responsible for its existence on our national calendar in late November ….”
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