Saying that retired Pope Benedict XVI was “very sick,” Pope Francis asked people to offer special prayers for him.
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The day after Christmas the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, which emphasizes how the story of Jesus’ birth is not a “fairy tale,” but a call to live as witnesses of the Gospel, Pope Francis said.
This Christmas let us welcome the Lord, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, into our world and our lives. God loved us so much that He sent us His Son to give us His grace, redeem us by His love, and sustain us by His peace.
More than 150 parishioners from parishes across the Catholic Diocese of Dallas gathered Dec. 17 at the Saint Raphael Retreat Center for a rosary procession and to celebrate a traditional posada held by Pastoral Juvenil Hispana Dallas.
The Rosary and Vigil for Father Roch Kereszty, O. Cist., will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20 in Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey, 3550 Cistercian Rd., Irving, TX 75039, and the Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Whenever people ask me how they can prepare themselves spiritually for Christmas, I invite them to read the lyrics of Christmas carols as prayers. Specifying which carols to employ is important; I am not aware of any mystical symbolism behind “Frosty the Snowman,” and I have long been convinced that “All I Want for Christmas is You” is fundamentally unredeemable on the first listen, let alone the ninetieth on the Christmas radio station’s saccharine and secular playlist. But many of the traditional Christian carols were first sung in a liturgical setting, and therefore were designed to be vocal prayers. That is certainly the case with “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”
The interconnected “moral, social, political and economic crises” facing the world cannot be solved if individuals and nations continue to focus only on their own, immediate interests, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2023.
Los rostros de esperanza y profunda devoción fueron una constante en los festejos en honor a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en la Diócesis de Dallas la noche del 11 de diciembre, preámbulo de la fiesta celebrada por la Iglesia Católica cada 12 de diciembre.
One of the privileged places of encountering Jesus is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession. In order to approach him in Confession, we have to turn and face the very things in our hearts that are most unworthy of him, that we would prefer to hide from him, and hide from ourselves, the sins and patterns of sinfulness that weigh on us, and burden our consciences, make it feel as if the Lord is far from us, disappointed in us, even given up on us.
As God lives in our hearts, we need to keep them clean so that we can hear his voice. A clean heart avoids places that pollute the mind; a clean heart speaks words that build, not destroy; a clean heart catches the tongue before it gets loose into profanity; a clean heart listens to others and is empathetic to others’ needs; a clean heart doesn’t wish evil for anyone.