From Darkness to Light: Preparation for Christmas

This week on From the HouseTops, Brother Matthew turns to the liturgical year by Abbott Guéranger to prepare for the solemnity of Christmas and the time of Advent, reflecting on the Church, the coming of Jesus Christ, the ancient prophets, and our duty to ask for the Messiah with hearts burning and confidence in God. These words remind us to watch and pray, to make room for the divine infant, to be born in our souls, and to open our hearts so that Christ be formed within us in this season of expectation.

Communion of Saints tells us about St. John the Evangelist, the youngest apostle, writer of the fourth Gospel, three epistles, and the Apocalypse, called by Jesus a son of thunder, whose Gospel begins with “In the beginning was the Word,” and is read as the last Gospel thanks to Pope St. Pius V. With Ezekiel’s symbols of St. Matthew the man, St. Mark the lion, St. Luke the ox, and St. John the eagle, join Brother Matthew in attending to the holy liturgy and the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist.