Christmas is a season of blessing. So do not put away the carols (or the lights) until you have to.
Music
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
‘Silent Night’: a song invoked in both World Wars and sung to a dying president
“Silent Night” is a song that seems to inspire the imagination in so many ways.
Posted inAdvent Reflections, Faith
Why we sing the ‘O Antiphons’ in the lead-up to Christmas (and not before)
A Reflection for the Friday of the Third Week of Advent
Posted inArts & Culture, Podcasts
Joyful and triumphant: ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ brings a message of hope to those who are suffering
We do not generally think about Christmas carols as about a battle. And yet what does it mean for the Christ child to be our savior, if not a blessed release from some kind of struggle?
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
The history of a Christmas classic, ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’
“O Come, All Ye Faithful” is a song almost everyone knows. But where did it come from, and why is it so popular?
Posted inArts & Culture, Podcasts
There’s a reason you love to belt out ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’
“There’s a logic that is embedded in the melodies of these tunes that helps the congregation remember them,” Maestro Colin Britt explains on the latest episode of “Hark!”
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
Think you know what the Beatles’ last days were like? Disney+’s ‘Get Back’ will shatter your assumptions.
Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” is fascinating, tedious and indispensable all at the same time.
Posted inArts & Culture, Podcasts
‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’: Advent’s Most Haunting Carol
As odd as it sounds, the song’s uncertain quality is actually quite fitting. Unlike other popular carols, “Emmanuel” is a song not for Christmas but for Advent.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
This band wrote a song in honor of Dorothy Day. Now their album could help make her a saint.
Eric Krewson and the band he headlines, The Chairman Dances, wrote a song that celebrates the friendship of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. And that song will shortly be on its way to the Vatican.
Posted inArts & Culture, Podcasts
’Tis the season for Christmas carols! Do you know where your favorite got its start?
If it’s not too early for Pope Francis to start listening to Christmas music, it’s not too early for us!