A Reflection on Advent Carols One of my main endeavors each year as Advent begins is to seek out music suitable for the season to fill my home with joy and inspiration. Christmas carols and winter songs are overwhelmingly prevalent at this time, but there are a few melodies that are splendidly Advent. We have the ultimate Advent carol “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” the ancient piece “Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding,” the joyful ballad “O Come, Divine Messiah,” the cheerful ch

The Catholic Difference The grittiness of Christian faith By George Weigel JERUSALEM. Walking through the narrow, winding streets of Jerusalem’s Old City on my first visit here in fifteen years, I was powerfully struck once again by the grittiness of Christianity, the palpable connection between the faith and the quotidian realities of life. For here, as in no other place, the believer, the skeptic, and the “searcher” are confronted with a fact: Christianity began, not with a