Today is The SECOND (Great) Canadian National Day of Podcasting. I thought I would take the opportunity to come up from the land of the podfaded and explain that the Catholic Roundup is on extended hiatus and we won’t be doing a Catholic New Media Advent Calendar this year. Enjoy the show. I hope to produce others more frequently than quarterly but who knows…
Send your feedback, podcast, blog and website promos ideas etc… on the blog at http://catholicroundup.com by email to (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com.
When I started preparing the first Catholic New Media Advent Calendar in 2008, I had several objectives. First I wanted to help people to reclaim a sense of Advent as a journey and a preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. Second, I wanted to create a collaborative project that showcased the work of many of the people who use new media to spread the Gospel.
This is the third year of the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar and I think we have succeeded on both those fronts. I have personally been challenged, encouraged, and enlightened as I pondered upon the daily advent reflections prepared by our guest contributors. This year, by my inexact count, we had around 70 people directly involved with producing material for the Advent Calendar. Thanks to each one of you.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at catholicroundup.com> (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
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To wrap up the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar, let me present a few Catholic New media personalities explaining the meaning of Christmas.
Toronto musician Blaise Alleyne went to Midnight mass at the Cathedral on Christmas Eve. On the way out of the cathedral, he was interviewed by CP24 TV news about why he was there.
From the 2008 Catholic New Media Advent calendar, Mac and Katherine Barron from the Catholic in a Small Town podcast bring us breaking news of a religious conspiracy that claims to know the “true meaning” of Christmas. Greg Willits from The Catholics Next Door on Sirius Satellite Radio, The Catholic Channel, makes a guest appearance as the ACLU rep, Mr. Cankorface.
And last, Father Jay Finelli, the ipadre, has released iPadre # 213 – Christmas Stories featuring Christmas reflections by a dozen Catholic New Media Personalities, including myself. Thanks Father Jay.
Jerry Kohlobrand aka BroJer is active in prison ministry and is all over the Catholic social media sphere. You can find him at CatholicPreachy.com and Bro Jer’s Blog. Today he offers a podcast reflection about Christmas. Thanks again to Jerry for his assistance in the background with this year’s advent calendar.
Joe Sales is a Canadian, Catholic blogger. You can find his blog at iamjoesales.blogspot.com. Today Joe brings us a very personal reflection on the meaning of Christmas to him.
When I first hear songs such as O Holy Night and Come All Ye Faithful, It really gets me excited for the Christmas season.
I honestly think with some people they get too caught up in the busyness and commercialization of Christmas. I wonder if there are people who lose sight of the real meaning behind Christmas.
In my heart and mind, I know that Christmas is the time where God sent his son to the world. There is nothing as joyous as witnessing the birth of Jesus.
Thinking of that last sentence about witnessing the birth of Jesus, I often wonder what it would be like to be one of the people in the world’s greatest miracle story ever. There’s the Shepherds, Three Wiseman, Joseph, Mary, and of course Jesus. It is so amazing just to know that this historic moment in time changed the world.
This season of Christmas has been a rough one for my family because it is the first Christmas without my Uncle Paul. I’ve done my best to be strong this holiday season for the sake of my family. There have been times when I’ve wanted to give up on everything around me that matters.
Just the other day, I took a walk to St Joseph’s parish which is located downtown and it was late at night. They have a really nice nativity scene display set up in front of the church. I prayed and I was a bit emotional but i focused on the baby Jesus. I found a lot of comfort in focusing on the baby Jesus. In that moment, the meaning of Christmas was re-ignited for me and came alive again in my own life.
I believe Christmas time should be a time to spend with family. Most importantly, it should be a time to focus on Jesus. This Christmas like any Christmas or holy day should be an invitation to return. When I say an invitation to return, I mean making things right with God. Go back to Church if you haven’t in a while, forgive others, just being Christ like in your own life.
In closing, I would like to wish you all a blessed Christmas and a spirit filled new year.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at catholicroundup.com> (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
“The heart of God stooped down to the stable: the humility of God is heaven. And if we approach this humility, then we touch heaven.”--Pope Benedict XVI
Thanks to Sister Anne Flanagan (http://romans8v29.blogspot.com) for compiling the papal quotations on this week leading up to Christmas.
On this Holy Night we celebrate the birth of Christ. Here is Sister Anne singing, O Holy Night with the Daughters of St. Paul Choir.
Join us tomorrow and Boxing Day for more Christmas reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
“In the stable at Bethlehem, heaven and earth meet. Heaven has come down to earth. For this reason, a light shines from the stable for all times; for this reason, joy is kindled there; for this reason, song is born there.”–Pope Benedict XVI
Merry Christmas from DivineOffice.org
Today we have a special Advent recording from Dane Faulkner, and the crew at DivineOffice.Org, introducing us to some ancient advent hymns. DivineOffice.Org is a wonderful ministry helping people to pray the liturgy of the hours.
Merry Christmas from Paul Sofranko
Paul Sofranko and his wife Rose live in house in the woods with two cats. Rose is an author and visual artist whose work can be found at Artist4God. Paul blogs at Sober Catholic and The Four Last Things. He has been helping me with some of the behind the scenes work on the Advent Calendar.
Today Paul brings us not one but two Advent reflections, one for each of his blogs.
Today on Sober Catholic, Paul offers a reflection on Making Room at the Inn.
Advent, a time of waiting for the coming of Christ the Lord. How well do we receive Him into our lives? Is He welcome in all areas of it or do we compartmentalize (pigeon-hole) Him in convenient places?
There are many distractions, and we do not make sufficient room for Him in the inn that is our lives. He is pushed outdoors.
Some of these distractions are addictive. These addictions fill the “hole in the soul” that should be filled by Jesus and the Sacraments. Grace alone should suffice but we improperly seek it. We are misdirected in our gropings in the dark for Truth and Life. We don’t find them in the right places. We stray from the path marked out for us.
Jesus is ever-present in the Blessed Sacrament and ever-waiting for us to come to Him. We prepare our way to Him through prayer, meditation and examining our consciences. We offer up a contrite heart as a sacrifice to Him, so that we will be pleasing in His sight.
And then Jesus, upon being asked, enters our lives and fills our very being with the stuff we seek: healing, direction, life. Things we sought elsewhere and failed miserably because we were deceived.
Christmas is coming, with Jesus in the Manger. Are we prepared to welcome and receive Him?
The season of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. Although the obvious point of the season is the Nativity of Jesus, the Mass readings in the weeks leading up to Advent and then in Advent itself serve to remind us that there is not one, but two comings of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
The First was when He was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Second will be His Coming at the the end of time, the end of the Ages.
Advent is a time of Preparation. Just as the Lord God prepared the way of His only begotten Son by the Announcement to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, and later His arrival on the public scene by the preaching of John the Baptist, so to do we Catholic Christians announce the presence of the Lord to the World today.
Christmas is about His first Coming. His Birth and later Death as told in Scripture indicates that there will be a Second Coming. His first was that of an innocent babe destined to be judged and executed years later. His Second will be as glorious as the first was humble, and He will be the judge.
Jesus is coming. Are we prepared to meet Him? Are we ready for His Second Coming of Judgment, will He find Faith in our lives and hearts? For a more immediate basis are we even prepared to meet Him in the Blessed Sacrament when we go to Mass? We are not supposed to receive Him in the Eucharist if we knowingly have a mortal sin on our soul, or even a serious attachment to sin (we need to effectively amending our lives).
We all have “clean up our sides of the street”, to sweep up the messes of our past and recover a future and live as best we can in following His will.
Prepare for the Coming of Our Lord. Make room for Him in your heart, mind and soul.
Tonight at 7pm EST, there will be a special Christmas Eve post for this advent Calendar.
Join us tomorrow for Christmas reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities as we journey through advent.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
“The stable in the Christmas message represents the ill-treated world. Christ came to restore beauty and dignity to creation: this is what began and Christmas and makes the Angels rejoice. The earth is restored to good order by virtue of the fact that it is opened up to God, it obtains its true light anew, and it regains its beauty and dignity. Thus, Christmas is a feast of restored creation.”–Pope Benedict XVI
Judy Ferguson is a fellow Canadian, convert, retired teacher, and my facebook friend. Her blog is http://judymomma.wordpress.com.
On December 7, Judy brought us a written reflection on her favorite contemporary Christmas song. Today she offers her first foray into podcasting as she offers two reflections on advent.
This is one of 2 advent reflections for today. Also check out A Cancon Advent reflection from Sean McGaughey.
Join us tomorrow for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities as we journey through advent.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
This is one of 2 advent reflections for today. Also check out Two Advent-ure Stories by Judy Ferguson.
A Cancon Advent reflection from Sean McGaughey
I have 4 or 5 boxes containing a couple hundred Christmas novels, picture books, and anthologies gathered from gifts, thrift shops and garage sales over the years. Each December 1, I haul them out of the over the stairs closet and cart them to school where they serve as my classroom library for the month. On the last day of school before the holidays, I cart them all home and set up a bookcase for them in our living room until Epiphany. Now I am familiar with all my Christmas books, but I must confess that I have not read them all.
Saturday morning, my wife and daughter were out shopping, I was doing some chores and Christmas decorating around the house.I had Bruce Cockburn’s brilliant Christmas album on the CD player. Although I only got this CD a couple years ago, this album first released in 1995, is a gem among contemporary Christmas albums. Eschewing the more mainstream and secular Christmas songs, Bruce Cockburn assembled a collection of traditional Christmas hymns and carols in a variety of languages, including Jesus Ahotonia (The Huron Carol) sung in the original Huron. I have often stated that the Huron Carol is one of my favorites because it was written in the town where I live.
While setting out the Christmas books in the living room, I was drawn to read, A Northern Nativity by William Kurelek . I have owned this book for years and never cracked the spine. Why, I do not know? William Kurelak is one of my favorite Canadian artists and his Catholic faith is intertwined throughout his work. The Northern Nativity is a series of 20 paintings of the Holy Family set in 20th century Canada in various humble and uniquely Canadian settings.
The juxtaposition of the wonderful Christmas hymns sung by Bruce Cockburn, and the Kurelek’s images of the holy family in ordinary Canadian scenes led me into a deep prayerful reflection on the birth of Jesus. How ordinary and human is the story of His birth to a young couple so impoverished that they seek shelter in a stable. But in the ordinary, common event of the birth of a child lies the great mystery of our faith, that the Son of God would choose to become human, and be born in such a humble manner.
The capper for me was when I turned the page, and there was a painting of St. Benedict’s Acres Farm at Madonna House. In my youth I spent a winter at Madonna House discerning my vocation and working at St. Benedict’s farm. I was deeply touched by Kurelak’s words,
“Why are these people not caught unawares by their Holy visitors? It is actually very simple. Inside the house near the doorway, William finds a little notice which reads:
Receive every visitor as Christ Himself. A lesson I learned at Madonna House which I need to remember each day.
When I was googling Kurelak’s Nativity, I found a youtube video somebody posted of the paintings set to the music of Chris De Burgh’s “Nativity”.
The fine folks at True North Records understand the value of sharing music. They have a Share Page where they regularly release promotional mp3s by their artists with the notice,
“All the mp3s on this page contain no DRM and can be downloaded for free and can be shared via P2P and social networks and used for any non-commercial purpose on a royalty free basis, including podcasts. Please share this music with your friends, add to your iPod, your website, blogs social networks playlists and your podcast. Thank you for helping us spread the word about these artists!”
Hooray! A record company that understands how selectively sharing some free artist mp3s can be part of a business model. Therefore, I have included Bruce Cockburn’s Silent night with this post. If you like it, head on over to True North Records to purchase downloads of the whole Christmas album.
Join us tomorrow for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities as we journey through the advent.
Send me your feedback on the blog at catholicroundup.com by email at catholicroundup.com> (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.
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Today is The SECOND (Great) Canadian National Day of Podcasting. I thought I would take the opportunity to come up from the land of the podfaded and explain that the Catholic Roundup is on extended hiatus and we won’t be doing a Catholic New Media Advent Calendar this year. Enjoy the show. I hope to produce others more frequently than quarterly but who knows…
Subscribe to CNMR (RSS)
When I started preparing the first Catholic New Media Advent Calendar in 2008, I had several objectives. First I wanted to help people to reclaim a sense of Advent as a journey and a preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. Second, I wanted to create a collaborative project that showcased the work of many of the people who use new media to spread the Gospel.
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Catholic Podcast 100 Club 
