To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The Episcopal vicar Phillips Brooks was moved by his visit to the village of Bethlehem in 1865 – the same year America’s Civil War finally ground to a halt. Standing in the traditional Field of the Shepherds, he watched the shadows of night fall upon the ancient streets. Three years later… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The Horse and His Boy, the fifth book in C.S. Lewis’ children series called The Chronicles of Narnia, tells the story of a boy named Shasta. He doesn’t know it, but he is the twin son of a Narnian prince. He was separated at birth from his brother by an evil… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here One of the world’s most popular Christmas songs actually started out as a She Done Me Wrong song. O Tannenbaum (or O Christmas Tree, as it is often sung in America) was written in 1824 by German composer Ernest Anschutz. A “tannenbaum” is a fir tree – one of the stout… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here How can we know what something is worth? Two recent auctions have challenged our capacity to answer that question. Last month, cryptocurrency businessman Justin Sun outbid six rivals at a Sotheby’s auction to purchase a conceptual piece created by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. We’re not talking about a bronze sculpture… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here During the heart of the Depression, American folklorist John Jacob Niles was sampling original music of Appalachian hill folk. While passing through the rustic town of Murphy, North Carolina, in July 1933, Niles paused to attend a revivalist rally. The Morgan family, traveling revivalists, had been in town for a few… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here What Christmas carol has the distinction of being written in its entirety on Christmas Eve? That would be Silent Night, which sprang from a musical 911 call at St. Nicholas’ Church in Oberndorf, Austria, in 1818. On December 22, assistant priest Josef Mohr learned that the organ made no noise at… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here If carolers come to your front door this December, they will likely sing Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, irrationally demanding that you bring them some figgy pudding (which is pretty hard to come by these days). What they’re less likely to sing is The Wexford Carol, one… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When my two brothers and I came into the world, we each received a security blanket. My older brother Scott got a blue one. My younger brother Bruce got a green one. My security blanket was yellow. Interestingly, when my brothers and I met with our parents a decade ago to… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing a Christmas duet? Crosby, the World War II-era crooner, was skeptical. What he knew of British rock didn’t exactly enchant him. Bowie dragged his heels, especially when he found out they would be singing a song he couldn’t stand. But Bowie’s mother was a huge Crosby… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Father Gregory Boyle directs Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, arguably the world’s most successful ministry to the members of inner-city gangs. He is inundated by opportunities to speak around the country. It’s no surprise that he sometimes falls back on the same compelling stories. A few summers ago, Boyle was asked to… Read more »
