To the editor:
Every so often the Catholic Herald has a letter to the editor which suggests priests preach on sin and what sin is. In my parish I can recall MANY such homilies!
The beautiful sermon on how loving God fills one with love and joy. I am sure there were people listening who wondered “how do I get that?” An invitation to a deeper study of one’s faith.
MIDDLETON — On February 11, 1939, the start of World War II was more than six months away, the movie Stagecoach — John Wayne’s breakthrough role — was days away from premiering in New York and Los Angeles, and the Catholic Church mourned the death of Pope Pius XI, who died the day before.
The world, in many ways, has changed since then. One thing that has stayed in the same in the past 76 years is the love between Veronica and Donald Harrop.
In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but might have eternal life.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote that out of love for us, “The hands that made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle and too tiny to change his own clothes or put food in his mouth. To share God’s love, Jesus experienced infant helplessness.”
Scripture tells us that God created us in his image. Since God is love, we image God best when we love. But sin keeps us from loving.
The lights are lit and the tree is up. The celebration of Christ’s birth has only just begun. The joy in the air is contagious for now, but how can we keep that joy long after the holidays are gone?
It does not take much thinking to come to the conclusion that all the happiness Christmas brings is in the anticipation and celebration of Christ’s birth, us making an effort to be so close to him with our families as he comes into the world.
