Tag: Christianity

In a troubled world, the birth of Christ reveals God’s unwavering determination to draw all people to himself and illuminate even the darkest corners, Pope Francis said.

Despite being born into a world “where there is a great need for light, for hope and a need for peace, a world where people at times create situations so complicated that it seems impossible to get out of them,” Jesus, the pope said, opens windows of light “even in the darkest nights of humanity.”

“God never stops, he finds a thousand ways to reach everyone, each and every one of us, wherever we are, without calculation and without conditions,” he said before praying the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter’s Square Jan 5.

Pope Francis said that Christmas celebrates how Jesus, through his humble birth, “overcomes so many walls and so many divisions.”

“He confronts the closed minds and hearts of the ‘great’ of his time, who are concerned more with defending power than seeking the Lord,” he said.

Born to parents “without means,” Jesus offers himself to the shepherds who were in the fields with their sheep, “men whose hearts are marked by the harshness of life and the disdain of society,” the pope said, as well as to the Magi who find Jesus “in great poverty.”

Pope Francis said Christians should be consoled and encouraged by the context of Jesus’ birth: “It seems impossible to get out of so many situations, but today the word of God tells us that it is not.”

He said that Christians are called to “to imitate the God of love, opening up glimmers of light wherever we can, with whomever we meet, in any context: family, social, international.”

God “invites us to not be afraid of taking the first step,” the pope said. “This is the Lord’s invitation today: let us not fear taking the first step; it takes courage to do it but let us not be afraid.”

Pope Francis said that opening “wide bright windows of closeness to those who are suffering, of forgiveness, of compassion and reconciliation” are the “many first steps we must take to make the path clearer, safer and possible for all.”

Particularly during the current Holy Year, he said, God invites Christians to be messengers of hope by saying “yes” to life in simple and concrete ways “with choices that bring life.”

After praying the Angelus, Pope Francis prayed for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Myanmar and Sudan. He called on the international community to “act firmly so that humanitarian law is respected in conflicts.”

“No more striking schools, hospitals; no more hitting workplaces,” he said. “Let us not forget that war is always a defeat, always!”

    

Christmas Message
by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill
of Moscow and All Russia
to the Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics and All the Faithful Children
of the Russian Orthodox Church

Your Graces the archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters,

Offering praise to God glorified in the Trinity and sharing with all of you the joy of this feast, I convey to you, the Orthodox children of our Church living in Russia and other countries of the Moscow Patriarchate’s pastoral responsibility, my heartfelt greetings on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, which is the celebration of the Maker’s incarnate love for His creation, the fulfillment of the promise of the Son of God’s coming into the world and the hope for salvation and life eternal.

A great and most glorious wonder is wrought today: A Virgin giveth birth, yet her womb suffereth no corruption! The Word is incarnate, yet is not separated from the Father! Angels give glory in company with shepherds; and with them we cry out: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! (Sticheron of the Feast). With these words the Church bears witness to the mysterious event which occurred more than two thousand years ago in the cave in Bethlehem and altered the entire further course of world history. It is with a sense of amazement and awe that we incline the knees of our hearts before this mystery of the Divine plan for salvation, incomprehensible to human mind. It is with gratitude that we accept this sacrificial gift of the Maker and Provider, for it pleased Him to do so for our sake, and confess His grace, proclaim His mercy, conceal not His gracious deeds (cf.: the Great Blessing of Water).

What then are we, twenty-first century Christians, to do in order to become partakers of this truly precious act of God’s loving-kindness and to be counted worthy of His kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Mt. 25.34)?

All we can and must do is respond in kind to His love. And this means to believe and fully trust God, to observe the Gospel commandments, to depart from evil and do good (Ps. 34.14), to be, as the Saviour calls us to, the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Mt. 5. 13-14).

Endowed with free will and the inalienable right to choose, any person may accept Christ or reject Him, be on the side of light or plunge into the darkness of sin, live in accord with their conscience or according to the elemental spirits of the universe (Col. 2.8), through good works create paradise within their hearts or, by contrast, in doing evil experience already here on earth the torments of hell. In other words, each of us is called to joy and the fullness of life or, put simply, to happiness. And happiness (it is vital to realize and understand) is impossible without God, for He is the fount of life and all good things. He is the Maker and Provider, He is the loving Father, our caring Helper and Protector. Having free will, we can choose life and attain the likeness of God, but we are also free to choose for ourselves a different, godless and graceless way of life that leads to perdition.

For this reason the Lord, Who created us, nonetheless does not save us without our participation. It is in the harnessing of the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12.2) with the human will, albeit imperfect yet striving towards the good, that we have the pledge of a successful journey through our earthly life. Life everlasting for every one of us, ultimately, is the continuation of that spiritual condition which characterized us in our earthly life.

Mindful of this, let us, as the Apostle Paul says, strive to acquire within ourselves love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5.22-23) along with other gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let us do everything possible to remain Christians not only in name but in our way of life, in how we treat our relatives and friends, our colleagues and co-workers, and every human being who is in need of our help and sympathy, compassion and support.

Every day, and even more so on this great feast, we are called to pray ardently for the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of the holy Churches of God, for the sick, for the suffering, for captives and for their salvation. These petitions are of great significance today, for the powers of evil which desire warfare and division have risen up in arms against Orthodoxy. They sow enmity and hatred, exploiting any means to implement their cunning designs. Yet we believe and hope that the power of God will put to shame all the powerless boldness of demons and their henchmen. Thus it was many times in our history, and so it shall be now. The centuries-old experience of the Church assures us of that.

I express my special gratitude to all those who, carrying out their pastoral ministry in the territory of Ukraine, remain faithful to canonical Orthodoxy even at the risk of their life and health, who fearlessly tread the path of confessing Christ, who endure vilification and affliction for Christ and for the Church. May the Lord help these courageous defenders and champions of the Truth in their hardships and may He count their sufferings as righteousness.

All this notwithstanding, we are united in spirit. We are one, for we have emerged from one baptismal font. We are one, for together we manifest the fullness of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are one, for we are linked by the indissoluble bonds of love in Christ. We are one, for inviolable are the words of Christ, Who said: I am with you always, until the end of the age (Mt. 28.20). That is why we Christians have nothing and no one to fear, as Saint Paul reminds us in his exhortation: If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom. 8.31). Inspired by this promise, we live and create, we struggle and vanquish in the name of the Lord, for as the Holy Apostle Peter says, there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved (Acts 4.12). There has not been, there is not, nor shall there ever be, as the Church testifies.

Since the coming of the Lord into the world and to this day, all those who believe in Him are given the opportunity to be children of the Heavenly Father, for, as Saint Paul says, now we are no longer strangers and aliens, but also members of the household of God (Eph. 2.19). This means that we are all His children, and that in Him and through Him we become closer and dearer to one other.

In the divine services and sacraments of the Church, which serves as the meeting point between the human person and the Maker, the veil of eternity is drawn aside for us and here, on earth, we receive a foretaste of the coming fullness of life when, according to the Holy Scripture, God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15.28), when no one and nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8.39), from the joy of communion with Him, when God will wipe every tear, and death will be no more, … for the first things have passed away (Rev. 21.4).

In proclaiming to people the glad tidings of the Saviour’s coming into the world, the Church, like a loving mother, exhorts everyone to believe in Christ and live according to His covenant so that we may become inheritors of eternal blessedness. Truly, the Lord has come to earth so that He may raise us up to heaven. He always encourages people to follow the path of spiritual and moral transformation which is attained through fulfilling the Gospel commandments, through the voluntary cooperation between the human person and God, through the participating action of His grace, sent down in the sacraments of the Church.

And if in our relationships with people, in our everyday affairs and concerns we learn to be guided by the divine ordinances, then many things will change both within and around us. Life will acquire true meaning and be filled with real joy and happiness.

Let us then be worthy of the Christian name and calling. Let us tread our path through life with steadfast faith and unwavering hope in help from above, joyfully welcoming every new day and every new opportunity to perform good works, showing love for our neighbours and giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for all things (Eph. 5.20), to Whom belong all glory, honour and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.

I congratulate all of you, my beloved, on the Nativity of Christ!

+His Holiness Patriarch KirillKirill, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’

“>KIRILL

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

The Nativity of Christ

2024/2025

Moscow

Pope Francis has appointed Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla to be the first woman to lead a Vatican dicastery, naming her prefect of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.

The 59-year-old Italian sister had served as secretary of the dicastery since October 2023.

The announcement of her appointment Jan. 6 also said Pope Francis named as pro-prefect of the dicastery Spanish Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, 64, the former rector general of the Salesians.

The Vatican press office did not reply to requests to explain why the cardinal was given the title pro-prefect or how his role would be different from that of a dicastery secretary.

Mercy Sister Sharon Euart, a canon lawyer and executive director of the Resource Center for Religious Institutes in Silver Spring, Maryland, told Catholic News Service, “The appointment of the pro-prefect recognizes that there may be situations that call for the exercise of (holy) orders such as liturgical functions with members of the dicastery and the Curia as well as individual situations involving the internal forum and the sacrament of reconciliation.”

“I do not think the appointment of the pro-prefect diminishes the role or authority of the prefect in carrying out the responsibilities” entrusted to the dicastery, she said in an email response to questions.

The dicastery, according to the apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, is called “to promote, encourage and regulate the practice of the evangelical counsels, how they are lived out in the approved forms of consecrated life and all matters concerning the life and activity of Societies of Apostolic Life throughout the Latin Church.”

According to Vatican statistics, there are close to 600,000 professed women religious in the Catholic Church. The number of religious-order priests is about 128,500 and the number of religious brothers is close to 50,000.

When a vowed member of a religious order asks to leave or is asked by the community to leave, the decision must be approved by the dicastery.

It approves the establishment of new religious orders, approves the drafting or updating of the orders’ constitutions, oversees the merger or suppression of religious orders and the formation of unions of superiors general.

Sister Brambilla succeeds 77-year-old Brazilian Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, who has led the dicastery since 2011.

She is one of two women Pope Francis appointed in early December to be members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, the committee that oversees the implementation of the most recent synod and prepares the next assembly.

Born in Monza, Italy, March 27, 1965, she earned a degree in nursing before entering the Consolata order in 1988. She studied psychology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, and in 1999, after taking her final vows, she went to Mozambique where she did youth ministry before returning to Rome in 2002, earning her doctorate in psychology from the Gregorian University in 2008.

She served two terms as superior of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, leading the congregation from 2011 to May 2023.

Cardinal Fernández Artime has been awaiting an assignment from the pope since August when his term as superior of the Salesians ended.

Born Aug. 21, 1960, in Gozón-Luanco, Spain, he entered the Salesians at the age of 18 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1987. He holds a degree in pastoral theology, a licentiate in philosophy and pedagogy, and, as a priest, he worked in Salesian schools both in teaching and administration.

After serving in Spain, he was appointed provincial superior of southern Argentina in 2009. Working in Buenos Aires, Cardinal-designate Fernández Artime got to know and work personally with then-Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, who would become Pope Francis four years later.

In 2014, he was elected rector major of the Salesians and the 10th successor of St. John Bosco; he was re-elected in 2020. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in September 2023 and allowed him to continue as the Salesian superior until a chapter meeting and election could be held.

Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego has been appointed the next archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, following Pope Francis’ acceptance of the resignation of Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, the first African American cardinal, the Vatican announced Jan. 6.

The see city is home to the White House, Congress, Supreme Court and a multitude of embassies, nonprofits, think tanks and lobbying groups seeking to sway the levers of American power.

Canon law required Cardinal Gregory, 77, to submit his resignation to the pope when the cardinal turned 75, which was Dec. 7, 2022. The Vatican announced the news of Cardinal Gregory’s retirement and Cardinal McElroy’s appointment two weeks before the second inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in Washington.

The 70-year-old Cardinal McElroy — a San Francisco native who pursued degrees at Harvard and Stanford before his 1980 priestly ordination — was appointed as bishop of the San Diego Diocese in 2015. Pope Francis named him a cardinal in 2022. He is also a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The cardinal has championed Pope Francis’ call to embrace synodality in the Catholic Church. During his time in San Diego, the cardinal convened three synods — the most recent began a process to implement synodal decision-making in the local church. Cardinal McElroy was also a participant in the global Synod on Synodality, which produced a final document on synodality in October that Pope Francis promulgated as magisterial.

As a prelate, Cardinal McElroy has urged the healing of deep polarization in society and in the church. Pastorally, he has called for greater inclusion of those who are marginalized, among them African American and Native Americans, people suffering poverty, migrants lacking legal status, refugees, clergy abuse victims, the incarcerated, and persons who identify as LGBTQ+.

The cardinal has emphasized that a synodal style is key to renewing the church’s missionary spirit and overcoming its internal divisions.

“A culture of synodality is the most promising pathway available today to lead us out of this polarization in our church,” wrote Cardinal McElroy in a Jan. 24, 2023, column for America Magazine. “Such a culture can help to relativize these divisions and ideological prisms by emphasizing the call of God to seek first and foremost the pathway that we are being called to in unity and grace.”

During the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ most recent annual fall meeting in November, Cardinal McElroy proposed a task force to help implement synodality within the conference. The U.S. bishops approved his proposal in a voice vote.

Cardinal McElroy has also led the San Diego Diocese through a second bankruptcy, for which it filed in June to settle approximately 450 claims. In 2007, prior to his appointment, the diocese paid $198 million to settle claims.

In a June 13 letter announcing the Chapter 11 filing, Cardinal McElroy said, “It is essential that we all keep in mind that it was the moral failure of those who directly abused children and teenagers, and the equally great moral failure of those who reassigned them or were not vigilant, that led to the psychological and spiritual wounds that still crush the hearts and souls of so many men and women in our midst.”

He added, “May God never let this shame pass from our sight, and may God’s tenderness envelop the innocent children and teenagers who were victimized.”

During the 2023 ordination of two auxiliary bishops for his diocese, Cardinal McElroy shared his thoughts on what makes a good bishop. “To be a good bishop,” he said, “you must truly journey with God’s flock as Pope Francis has urged us: walking sometimes at the front to lead; walking sometimes in the middle of the flock to experience the realities of daily life; and walking sometimes at the rear to embrace and walk with those who are struggling to keep up.”

Cardinal McElroy also succeeds a prelate in Washington who leaves an impressive legacy marked by a great many “firsts.”

Throughout his decades of service to the Catholic Church, Cardinal Gregory has been a pioneering prelate. He converted to the Catholic faith in sixth grade while attending St. Carthage Catholic School in his hometown of Chicago, and was ordained a priest of that archdiocese in 1973.

He became the youngest Catholic bishop in the U.S. at age 34 when he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1983. In 1994, he was ordained bishop of Belleville, Illinois.

In 2005, he became the third African American to serve as archbishop of Atlanta, an archdiocese that during his tenure grew to some 1.2 million Catholics across 69 counties.

In 2019, he was appointed the first African American archbishop of Washington. Pope Francis elevated him to cardinal in 2020.

During his time in Washington, Cardinal Gregory navigated difficult situations, particularly where faith and politics intersected. The cardinal rejected calls to deny holy Communion to President Joe Biden, the second Catholic to hold the office, despite Biden’s endorsement of abortion, a stance at odds with church teaching. He emphasized the importance of effective dialogue and seeking common ground.

But he also spoke clearly to the president’s shortcomings. In April on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Cardinal Gregory said that while he believed that Biden was sincere about Catholicism, “like a number of Catholics, he picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts.” He added, “I would say there are things, especially in terms of the life issues, there are things that he chooses to ignore.”

At the same time, Cardinal Gregory — who has consistently spoken out against capital punishment and euthanasia — commended Biden’s recent commutation of most federal death row sentences. In a Dec. 23 statement, the cardinal called the death penalty “one more link in the awful loss of public respect for human life itself.”

Cardinal Gregory was also the first African American elected as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, serving from 2001-2004. Prior to that, he had been elected vice president of the conference (known from 1966 until 2001 as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops) in 1998.

His tenure as USCCB president coincided with the explosive clerical sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston. The crisis — while not the first known sex abuse scandal of the Catholic Church in the U.S. — provided the impetus, along with other emerging diocesan abuse scandals at the time, for the U.S. bishops to develop and adopt their “Charter for the Protection for Children and Young People.”

The watershed document that then-Bishop Gregory helped shepherd the U.S. bishops to develop in Dallas June 13-15, 2002 — commonly called the Dallas Charter — lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. The charter also includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.

As the charter neared its 20th anniversary, Cardinal Gregory told Catholic News Service in a June 2022 interview that the charter marked a “pivotal moment” in the history of the Catholic Church in the U.S. But he said the task of confronting sexual abuse in the church “is not complete.”

“We’ve gone through some rocky patches,” the cardinal admitted. “With every sordid revelation (of sexual abuse or improper response by a bishop), the task becomes more difficult, the climb becomes steeper.”

The cardinal told CNS the Dallas Charter’s impact had at times been undermined by ongoing discoveries of the scope of the decades-long crisis.

“Certainly 20 years ago when the charter was first enacted and ratified, I think the people of God breathed a sigh of relief that finally the bishops were taking action together that would address the issue,” he said. “But … with each revelation that involved a bishop not taking appropriate action, with each revelation that a bishop himself was engaged in this terrible criminal behavior, the progress that was made over months and years was weakened.”

During the Mass for his 2019 installation as archbishop of the nation’s capital, he alluded to another crucial inflection point in the abuse crisis — the lurid abuse and cover-up scandal surrounding Theodore McCarrick, former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, who had been laicized by the Vatican in February 2019 — saying, “We stand at a defining moment for this local faith community.”

Candor, blended with hope, has been characteristic of Cardinal Gregory’s approach to a range of issues within the church.

As a liturgical expert — having earned his doctorate in liturgy from the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome in 1980 — the cardinal has written extensively over the years on liturgical challenges and opportunities for growth in the worthy celebration of the liturgy.

In a 2016 journal article, then-Archbishop Gregory noted that “Catholic preaching has often lagged far behind its counterparts in other Christian denominations.” He pointed out that Catholic faithful “seek true inspiration, edification, and sound pastoral direction from the homily at the Eucharistic celebration.”

Writing as a Chicago auxiliary bishop in 1988, he also affirmed that “the cultural accommodation … between the Roman Rite and the Black American cultural heritage” is not “an impossible task” in the realization of an authentic Black Catholic liturgical tradition.

In 1999, then-Bishop Gregory, in his role as vice president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, also publicly apologized to Eastern Catholics, who had historically endured discrimination by some Roman Catholics in North America over their traditions, such as the ordination of married men to the priesthood.

With the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year, Cardinal Gregory expressed the need for both contemplation and hope.

Celebrating a Jan. 1 Mass for the Haitian Catholic community — with the liturgy celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, while also commemorating Haiti’s Independence Day — the cardinal pointed to Mary as a model for faithful in the journey ahead, especially since she meditated profoundly upon the mysteries of Christ.

“Pondering helps us all prepare to grasp the really important events in life and see their deepest meaning,” Cardinal Gregory said. “We should all reflect more deeply, more frequently during the new year.”

I sail a sea comprised solely of sailors. To my port and starboard stand 200 other swaying souls in the concert venue, all sporting captain hats and with fake mustaches plastered above lips murmuring along to “Lido Shuffle.” 

My own faux stache, awkwardly draped over my real mustache, has peeled itself off somewhere in the journey between “Baker Street” and “Africa.” The hat stays on, and I cling to it for dear life as the chorus and crowd ascend to that barbaric yawp of “whoaOhOhOhOoOo.” It is at that moment I finally understand the charismatics. 

Forgive the poetry, but then how can you not be romantic about Yacht Rock? This is the genre of Mustache Harbor, the cover band my family took in last month in San Francisco. ‘Yacht Rock’ is the colloquial catchall for the late ’70s- early ’80s Los Angeles soft rock scene, throwing diverse acts like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, and Kenny Loggins under the same beach umbrella. It’s less a genre than vibe, the type of music you want in the background as you’re three sheets to the wind in either capacity.  

HBO released a documentary on the subject the day I returned from that trip, playfully titled “Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary.” As a Catholic, I don’t believe in coincidence, preferring to take the universe and its indifference personally. The flipside of that coin is I must accept the positive portents as well, which means I’ll have to dig through Yacht Rock and take you with me. 

The first rule of Yacht Club is that Yacht Rock doesn’t exist. The name was foisted upon a loose fraternity of Los Angeles-based musicians in the 1970s by a loose fraternity of Los Angeles-based comedians in the early 2000s, who pieced together the family tree of how Steely Dan session players went on to start bands of their own with similar Smooth Jazz stylings. The comedians started their own popular YouTube sketch series on their invented genre, which soon absorbed the acts themselves as they woke up part of a movement. 

The musicians interviewed for the film have a range of responses. Michael McDonald finds some amusement in it, while Donad Fagen of Steely Dan finds four letters. The only thing they agree upon is that they didn’t see themselves as Yacht Rockers in the moment. In “The Last Days of Disco,” Whit Stillman’s film about a concurrent genre, a yuppie protests his classification by saying since no one personally identifies as a yuppie, the group can’t possibly exist. By such a litmus Yacht Rock is post hoc, for what union can exist without due-paying members?

Part of their hesitation lies in wondering if they’re the butt of the joke. Between interviews with the musicians are talking head segments with critics and cultural commentators, who are all well-meaning Los Feliz types who have long lost track of the line between irony and sincerity. I am on the brink of my 20s but still cower in fear when high-schoolers laugh in my vicinity; I suspect the same dynamic is at play. When a man in a Ninja Turtles T-shirt insists you’re cool, you can’t help but speculate what curve he’s grading on. 

Somewhere in the goofy name and ironic appreciation and fake mustaches, their actual artistry is lost in the shuffle. The documentary does them justice there, demonstrating their chops and how much hard work it takes to create soft rock, how much effort goes into sounding easygoing. 

The band Toto, for example, was so proficient at it that they became the session house band for hundreds of albums by other artists, releasing just 14 under their own name (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is largely their doing). When a fellow songwriter asked Michael McDonald how he wrote so many hits, McDonald told him he studied Bach’s chord progressions, insisting it was really all right there. 

If there is a connective tissue in Yacht Rock, or perhaps even a guardian angel, it’s McDonald. He was generous with his time and talent, his dulcet tones haunting the background of Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins songs. Moreover, McDonald is a sort of avatar for the whole scene’s cheery professionalism. The men here are LA survivors: They took nothing personal and just kept showing up to work, and seem surprised they’re even remembered. McDonald’s midwestern ethos set the tone more than any yacht-riding, champagne-popping lifestyle. He’s from Missouri: paddle steamers seem more his speed anyway.

There is a spiritual undercurrent in Yacht Rock, which may be the source of this buoyancy. McDonald is essentially a Gospel singer with Top 40 aspirations: His work with The Doobie Brothers (like “Takin’ It to the Streets”) is a more rousing call to action than “Onward Christian Soldiers.” One of my own personal favorite Yacht Rock songs is his duet with James Ingram, “Yah Mo B There,” the best argument that you of course can talk about God in pop music — just so long as you spell his name creatively. 

It should also be noted that Yacht Rock duo Seals & Croft, with session work by Toto, released the only pro-life rock album on record, 1974’s “Unborn Child,” the merits of which I cannot attest to out of professional laziness. Seals & Croft and some members of Toto were practicing members of the Baháʼí Faith, the pan monotheistic religion. In an industry where Catholics are few and accomplish less, I find myself amiable to the Baháʼí conspiracy. For those looking for it, perhaps they are the light side of the Force to counter Scientology. 

Two days after watching the documentary, about four days since arriving home, and perhaps a full week since the Mustache Harbor concert, I found my missing mustache. It had attached itself to the left elbow of my flannel, a groovy little caterpillar who I was surprised to find had never left me at all. 

Hidden well away in the Greek of the The Mysteries of Christ’s GeneologyAll biblical names speak, and were most often given to people from a certain prophetic inspiration. No translation is capable of fully revealing the beauty of the whole spectrum of biblical names and images.

“>genealogy with which St. Matthew opens his Gospel is a little theological secret—a secret which utterly vanishes in most English translations. Matthew begins his genealogy of Jesus by saying that “Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers” and so on and on for about another forty names. The word here rendered “begot” is the Greek ἐγέννησεν/ egennesen, the active mood of the verb γεννάω/ gennao. After so many instances of one man actively begetting someone else, the reader is primed for the concluding climax “and Joseph begot Jesus”. But that is not how the genealogy concludes.

Rather, it concludes “Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary from whom was begotten Jesus”—in Greek not ἐγέννησεν, but ἐγεννήθη/ egennethe, not the active of gennao, but the passive. Reading along in the Greek sets one up to expect yet another active verb, and the presence of the passive offers the reader a kind of psychological and grammatical jolt. The presence of the passive after so many generations of active is unexpected—much as the virgin birth of the Messiah was unexpected.

For the Jews of Second Temple Judaism did not expect their Messiah to be born of a virgin. The Christological insight that St. Matthew had about the Messianic significance of Isaiah 7:14 was given to him by God (doubtless aided by the fact that Jesus was in fact born from a virgin), and the notion of the Messiah’s virgin birth came as something of an unexpected surprise.

The point is this: our God is a God of the unexpected. That is what the Hebrew Scriptures mean when they describe Him as “the living God”—that is, He is a God who freely acts, who chooses what He will do in the earth and how He will respond to us. He is not the God of the Deists who having made the world sits back and simply watches how things will unfold. The living God works in our midst in the realm of history. In the words of the Psalmist, “He does whatever He pleases in heaven or on earth” (Psalm 115:3). And a lot of what He does is unexpected.

We see this abundantly demonstrated in the ministry and life of Christ. Israel expected their Messiah to be a patriot, a hero, a man who would raise His voice and rally the troops and form an army and chase the Romans out of Palestine, spilling as much Roman blood as possible. They expected Him to slay the sinners and banish war and crime and evil from the world. They did not expect that the Kingdom He brought would be one in which good and evil co-existed until the end of the age (see Matthew 13:24-30). They did not expect Him to forego bombastic patriotic speeches and refuse to raise His voice in the street (see Matthew 12:15-21). They expected Him to wage victorious war against the Romans and kill them (preferably in great numbers), not be killed by them on a cross of shame and defeat. And they certainly did not expect Him to completely reconfigure Israel as a Church, transcending its national and racial identity so that Gentiles could become a part of God’s people, making baptism and Eucharist the signs of belonging to Israel rather than circumcision and Sabbath. All of these things that Christ did were scandalous and completely unexpected.

So unexpected, in fact, that many Jews were unprepared and unwilling to accept Him. They expected Messiah to fulfill their desires and hopes and nationalistic dreams, not to do something else so dramatically different. When Christ did the unexpected, they concluded that He could not be the Messiah and they rejected Him. Some Jews of course accepted Him (such as the apostles) and allowed Him to reconfigure their views accordingly. Though what He did was unexpected, they still went along with Him. And what, we may ask, was the difference between those who refused to accept the unexpected and those who accepted it? Humility.

Some Jews listening to Jesus were proud of heart and allowed their pride to harden their hearts and blind them to the glory of Christ. Other Jews were humble of heart and accepted what Christ taught even though it meant completely rethinking all that they had been expecting. In this way the unexpectedness of Christ’s ministry acted as a way of sifting the proud from the humble. It is as Simeon the Righteous prophesied to the Mother of God when he first saw the Christ Child: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34). Holy Prophet MalachiThe Holy Prophet Malachi lived 400 years before the Birth of Christ, at the time of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, therefore the holy Fathers call him “the seal of the prophets.”

“>Malachi of old proclaimed that Messiah would sit as a smelter (Malachi 3:3) and this smelting was accomplished through our Lord’s unexpected ministry, which separated the proud from the humble.

What does all this mean for us today? Simply that the God with whom we have to do is a God of the unexpected. He may answer our prayers as we hope and expect—or He may not. He may choose do something which we did not and could never foresee, but Paul has taught us that whatever He does works together with all things for our good (Romans 8:28). What is required of us is humility, the humility to accept all that comes from God’s hand without rebelling against it.

We often live in the sad and tragic delusion that we are in control. In fact, we are never really in control, but always live under the mercy of God. We cannot control what goes on around us or (most of the time) even control ourselves. The path of wisdom bids us give up this moronic delusion and give thanks to God for whatever His mercy brings our way. He remains the sovereign Lord, the One who does whatever He pleases, the God of the unexpected. Under His hand we can find our peace.

N. Klimova. St. Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds     

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

There is one or another podvig in which every saint has labored especially hard. Of course, all those whom we venerate as saints strove to fulfill every commandment of God, and this is necessary for any Christian. But at the same time, some succeeded more in fasting, others—in prayer, and others—in some other spiritual labor.

Today we are commemorating Great-Martyr Anastasia the Deliverer from Bonds. In addition to the fact that she endured torments and suffering for Christ, one of her main feats was compassion. Before she was taken into custody, tortured and then martyred for confessing the Lord Jesus Christ, she would very often visit prisons and try in every possible way to alleviate the suffering of prisoners who were imprisoned for being Christians. She washed their wounds, helped, supported, and comforted them, encouraging them not to be afraid of continuing their confession of the name of Christ. And it was for this virtue that the Lord raised her to such a height, blessed her to endure all the torments and receive the crown of martyrdom.

The holy Great-Martyr Anastasia teaches us compassion.¹ But compassion is not just willingness to help your neighbors and make life easier for them. First and foremost, it is about suffering together with the one who suffers, feeling of the pain of the person who is next to you as your own pain. This was precisely the compassion that Great-Martyr Anastasia possessed It gave her the strength to carry out her service, and it later gave her the strength to become a martyr of Christ.

St. Silouan of Mt. Athos said these amazing words: “The greater your love, the greater your suffering.” And many of us know this from our personal experience, especially parents. When our children go astray and do not live according to God’s commandments, it is constant distress for their parents.

Every person gets sick at heart worrying about those he really loves. Priests feel this especially keenly. When someone who attended church and led a Christian life later leaves the Church, becoming an atheist or a pagan, this is also a terrible pain for a priest, and indeed for anyone who loves. A loving heart always suffers, and in order not to suffer you have to go into your own shell, making your heart cold. And then (it would seem) everything will be fine in your life and you won’t worry about anything. But the most amazing thing is that there is a foretaste of eternal life, a foretaste of the Heavenly Kingdom in this suffering and agony, which are naturally caused by love.

Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)     

The Apostle Paul says, I die daily (1 Cor. 15:31). Here we are talking about the compassion that he possessed in the full sense. But it is through this daily dying, through this suffering that eternal life is life with God felt. And, to the contrary, if a person shuts himself off and does not suffer with anyone, then he seemingly has no problems, but already in this life he begins to feel the breath of hell, which after his death will swallow him up. And there is joy, there is bliss, there is happiness in the highest sense of the word in this suffering.

May God grant us all to be compassionate. May God grant us all to experience this pain, which leads us to the knowledge of Christ, to love, to eternal life with God, and to the Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

More than 21,000 people have begun the new year seeking Jesus at the biggest Catholic young adult conference of the year in the U.S., being held in two locations. SEEK25, organized by Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), runs Jan. 1–5 in Salt Lake City and Jan. 2–5 in Washington, D.C.

The four-day program brings together Catholics from across North America. This year’s registration hit a new record with 17,274 paid participants in Salt Lake City. In addition to the second location in Washington, D.C., with a sold-out crowd of 3,355 registrants, SEEK also has a smaller conference in Cologne, Germany, this year with 486 registered attendees.

A large chunk of attendees in Salt Lake City have come from FOCUS campuses, where FOCUS missionaries help build Catholic communities on campus. About 11,084 students from FOCUS campuses were registered for SEEK, an increase of 16% since last year. Another 1,672 students came from non-FOCUS campuses, an increase of 36%.

The event also brought 46 bishops, up from the record-setting number of 44 last year.

While SEEK is geared to college students, adults on the “Making Missionary Disciples” track also attend the event as well as families with young children.

At the conference center, Salt Palace, SEEK attendees were full of life, lining the walls, filling the hallways, cheering and waving flags representing their various universities.

The exuberant crowd of mostly young adults grew quiet when the opening Mass began, which took place the night of New Year’s Day on the feast of Mary, Mother of God. The hymn “Sing of Mary” rang out as well over 100 priests processed through the main hall, including Salt Lake City’s Bishop Oscar Solis. It took two processional songs for all the priests to process in, kiss the altar, and take their seats.

During the homily, Solis focused on the new year as well as the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

SEEK is known for its keynote talks, which this year are being livestreamed by EWTN.

The first keynote of the conference was Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and author, who spoke about happiness. In his talk, Brooks highlighted how satisfaction isn’t permanent, and happiness comes from having meaning in life.

“Having meaning is key,” he told SEEK attendees. “The why of your life is paramount.”

Brooks noted that many in our culture have encountered a loss of meaning, which he connected with the mental health crisis. It’s hard to find happiness when you don’t know the “why” of your life, he said.

Sister Mary Grace, SV, an Australian Sister of Life and another keynote, focused on meaning, Christ, and God’s rest. She noted that all of us are “seeking true rest” and that “God can insert glory into every single story, to the exception and the exclusion of no one.

“Resting in peace was never just reserved for the faithful departed, or the retired, or those able to afford it,” Sister Mary Grace told the attendees. “Genesis itself reveals that God spent six days creating, but the culmination does not come to the seventh, when God rests and we take rest in him. God’s rest is the only remedy for heavy hearts.”

The conference continued in full swing on Thursday, Jan. 2, with a morning rosary followed by Mass. Incense still hung in the air as participants divided into separate halls for the men’s and women’s breakout sessions. Hoards of men marched off for a session with Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, president of Franciscan University, while the women gathered for a talk by Fallon Scanlan, a longtime FOCUS employee who spoke on what it means to be a woman.

The rest of the day was filled with breakout sessions from speakers including Tammy Peterson, podcaster and wife of psychologist and author Jordan Peterson, who spoke on gratitude and her recent conversion to Catholicism, and Trent Horn, Catholic Answers apologist and author, who shared his conversion story in a talk called “Why We Are Catholic.”

Between breakout sessions, attendees wandered around the “Mission Way,” a large section of booths manned by representatives of Catholic apostolates, colleges, and religious orders.

Taking the stage in the evening is Father Mike Schmitz followed by opportunities for prayer and community, including swing dancing and line dancing.

The Lord is coming into our world. The Divine Infant is being born. He can’t do anything on His own yet. He needs care and attention of a mother who will hug and nurse Him and a father who will protect Him. He trusted them. And do we know how to trust Him? What do we expect from the Lord, crossing the threshold of the Church? Well-being, solving our problems, and the joy of communion with God? We expect everything at once. But we often get something completely different. Why? We talked about this with Marina FilonikFilonik, Marina

“>Marina Filonik—psychologist, psychotherapist, and head of the Psychology for the Church educational project. We have also discussed how not to spill grace and cheer ourselves up if we don’t want anything on the eve of the festive season.

    

We rarely seek God as a Brother

Well, who does anything on a whim? I mean going in for sports, for example. People basically start taking care of themselves when they already have health problems. And so it is in everything. We seek solutions to our problems and solace in various spheres, including the spiritual. And this need is not even for God, but for a higher power, for a miracle of healing, improvement of a situation, etc.

Well…, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick (Mt. 9:12). And the Lord answers us: “Okay, I’m ready to be your Doctor if you come to Me as a patient. Or a Teacher.” We rarely seek God as a Brother, a Friend, or a Father.

I’m the same as before

Having come to church in extreme need, a person thinks that he and his life should change drastically. If I was depressed, I’ll become joyful. If I was aggressive and gloomy, I will become amiable and sweet. But nothing happens. I’m the same as before. It’s easy to get disappointed, offended, and go to look for miracles elsewhere.

Or a dangerous attitude may appear: “I have come to God, so I must be joyful.” And once I start demanding something from myself, especially emotions, religious neurosis begins.

Of course, it happens that the Lord gives a person light, peace, grace, and On Joy, Prayer and GratitudeSpiritual life is a conversation about the most important things: about who I am, what God wants from me, how I can fulfill His will and His Providence.

“>joy. But it is not because he suddenly became a believer. Religion is not a pill. Although we really want a pill. But this is a normal desire.

Let’s separate joy from our relationship with God

Joy is a pleasant emotion, a reaction to the realization of something important to me, what I need right now. And if I don’t get it, I experience negative emotions. Here we are talking not only about vital needs—to eat, to sleep, or to rest—but also about meanings and values. And believers are no different from non-believers here. Emotion is a result of getting or not getting what is important to me, what I need.

When I feel good, I forget about God

There is a fashionable myth: if I pray poorly or pray only when I feel bad, I bring suffering on myself. The Lord allows suffering in order to urge me to come to Him.

This myth stems from this experience: I only pray when I’m in need. And when I feel good, I forget about God. By analogy, when I hurt my knee, I run to my mother. And when everything is fine, I just play with other children, but I don’t think about my mother.

However, that doesn’t mean that at that moment my love for my mother or her love for me disappears. The bond between us remained when I went to play with my friends in the playground. It’s the same with God. My bond with Him is not severed even if I think about Him less often.

I want to be a burning icon lamp

Okay, you want to think about God more often. Set a reminder on your cellphone twice a day at any time. It doesn’t matter what mood you’re in at that moment—in joy or in sorrow. Just think about God. These are the things at the behavioral level available to us, but not at the level of psychological state; you cannot order yourself to be in a prayerful spirit or joy.

    

For this purpose there is the How Should We Build Our Prayer Rule?It is impossible to imagine a meaningful Christian life without a daily prayer rule. But what should this prayer rule be? How long or short, and consisting of which prayers? How can we prevent our daily prayer rule from becoming purely a formality? What should we pay particular attention to, and what mistakes should we avoid? And what is the most important thing in a prayer rule?

“>prayer rule: service cycles from annual to weekly, and the daily liturgical cycle, so that regardless of his state, a person can come to church and stand in prayer.

You can also bring your feelings to the Lord and say, “I forget about You when I’m happy. I stop praying. Do something. Awaken my heart. Help me think about You more often and be in touch with You both when I feel good and when I feel bad.”

Besides, we can pray to the Holy Spirit as to the Spirit of peace, the Spirit of the gift of life and joy: “Be with me, be in me. I want to be a burning icon lamp.”

Let’s distinguish between a phenomenon and its interpretation

Phenomenon: I pray when I feel bad; but when I feel good, I don’t pray.

Interpretation: Thus does not mean that I bring evil on myself and God punishes me with sorrows.

Joy is psychophysiology

A lot depends on the cultural context, traditions, and people themselves.

In religion, the rites serve people’s needs. As a result, they give positive emotions. All of our senses are involved: visual perception, hearing, smell, and color impressions. But it is not directly related to God.

We can go to the museum, to the theater—and experience something similar there. This is psychophysiology.

And we cannot prove that the joy we experience while in church, while participating in the sacraments, is fundamentally different from what people of other religions experience. Or what people feel who get joy as a result of encountering some creativity.

Such studies are conducted every now and then. But no one knows anything for sure.

And here the mechanism of faith is activated

Personally, I want to think and think that a truly spiritual experience, that of meeting God, has a different ontology than all other types of joy.

But I am against the division into the profane and the sacred. You can spiritualize your whole life, realizing that all of it is a gift from God. And then the joy of meeting with friends, walking, working, and praying turns everything into prayer. Life itself becomes a prayer. I see everything as a manifestation of God’s presence.

Not to spill the joy of Communion

People often complain that after recieving joy from the sacraments, from Communion, they cannot hold on to it for a long.

Our emotional lability varies. A feather has fallen on someone, and it’s the end of the world for him. Another is in a lot of trouble, but he’s smiling. This is our nature and constitution. But at the same time, everyone understands when they have done something that causes darkness in their souls. We can keep track of these things. But not always.

So if the Lord has poured grace into your basin, but you couldn’t bring it home, don’t exaggerate: not everything is in your power.

And at this moment we need God even more. May He come and settle in my heart, which I cannot control. Because I can’t carry this basin without spilling its contents.

He came to church without grace and left without it

A person can come to church in a state of depression, stand through the service, participate in the sacraments, and feel nothing at all. In this state it is very hard to pray, confess, and receive Communion. He came without a sense of grace and left without it. Now there are plenty of such cases. There may be a challenge for our faith and faithfulness here—when I’m like a stump, will I be able to keep my faith alive? Or is it based more on emotions?

We want to improve our state: this is normal. It was like that before. Read the Gospel: Christ was always followed by cripples, the infirm, and the sick.

And now we realize our unhappiness, our illness, and come to church. And that’s good, that’s normal.

Don’t be too happy—you’ll bring disaster on yourself

This is not a religious myth. The idea is this: Everything is fine now, but I know that later it will be bad. In order to face future challenges fully armed, you cannot relax.

And again a phenomenon and its interpretation

Phenomenon: life is striped like a zebra. No matter whether or not you are ready: there will be a black stripe anyway. And then white again. That’s our reality. And there’s no getting away from it.

    

Interpretation: I don’t want a black stripe. What can I do to avoid it or make it shorter?

Recipe: I will be less happy. Then there will be no black stripe

It makes some sense. The range of my emotions will be smaller. It means that my emotional swing from sadness to joy is narrower. This is a “medium-gray” sub-depression.

But this does not impact the coming of the black stripe in any way. It will surely come. Suddenly. And you won’t be ready for it anyway.

But if you are continuously waiting for the “end of the world”, you will get chronic stress with all the ensuing consequences.

It’s a sin not to please yourself

If something brings me joy, and I can do something pleasant for myself, it must be done—meet with good people, take walks, dance, and read my favorite books. And don’t regard the joy you derive from it as a sin. It’s a sin not to do that. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10), the Gospel of John reads.

There are exceptions

Of course, there are such medical diagnoses as bipolar disorder and other unhealthy conditions. The nervous system is overexcited. The person is constantly in an upbeat and joyful mood—he has loads of plans, starts a business, takes out loans, and inspires others with his ideas. Then it all bursts like a soap bubble. The result is sad: no business, no friends, and only the debts remain. But This is an emotional disorder, while we’re talking about something else.

Plans and results

The festive season is coming soon. It’s good to sum up the year gone by and make plans for the new year—it develops awareness. But here there is a danger of falling into a heavy sense of guilt that something did not work out again. I planned one thing for myself, but something absolutely different happened to me. And I start scolding myself that I couldn’t do it again.

It is better for people who are prone to this to try not to make any plans and accept what God is giving them today. Learn to live here and now. Or make short-term plans—for example, for a day. If everything has worked out, that’s fine. If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not a tragedy. There will be something else tomorrow.

The worm of Comparison

Another source of non-festive mood is comparing your life with the lives of other people. We watch social media and TV. It’s glossy everywhere, but we have a dull routine.

    

And during the festive season the difference between “them” and “me” seems colossal. Back in November or March my life was still tolerable, but now I have looked at how “they” are doing and it has become clear that I will never reach their level.

Refocus and choose life

We often can’t see the good in our lives, and still less thank God and ourselves for it.

There are no problems with sins and unfulfilled plans—we see them. And that’s right—we have to suffer. Try it: Refocus and change your strategy. Choose life. If you’re going to sum up the year gone by, then try to focus on good things.

How to cheer up when you don’t want anything

When a person says he doesn’t want anything, it’s not true. In reality, he doesn’t want to do what he has to do: what others expect from him or what he expects from himself.

“I am not in the mood to set the table, put up a Christmas tree, receive guests, or visit my relatives.” And this is an understandable situation.

Imagine that a magician has come to you

Now he will fulfill your desire. What do you want? To lie on the sofa? Lie down. If you don’t want to visit your relatives, stay at home.

What else do you want to do? To go to the park or to a cafe with your friend? You may go. Please go.

But we get stuck in a state of discontent. We don’t allow ourselves anything. The path to change is through acceptance. You allow yourself to be lazy, you may lie down on the sofa. You stop fighting with yourself, you humble yourself and allow yourself some things today that you didn’t allow yourself before.

And then a miracle occurs: within a few days or a few months your energy and desires reappear. Life is changing for the better. This is physiology. Therefore, what joy can there be if you are physically and mentally exhausted?

A magic kick

But sometimes you shouldn’t reflect and pity yourself, but should give yourself a magic kick.

If I don’t want to do something, but I know that then my needs will not be satisfied, I must force myself and do it. According to the fruits, an improvement in my state will follow later.

You don’t feel like going to see your friends? But you know you will have a great time there. So you should go.

You don’t feel like going to the swimming pool or to the gym? But it will lift your spirits and there will be a feeling of satisfaction. And you know it. So you should go.

Appetite comes with eating.

And yet about Christmas!

The Lord has come into our world. He’s still a defenseless Baby in need of help. He trusted the people around Him. God trusted us!

    

Let us allow ourselves to accept this feeling of defenselessness, weakness, and smallness. Let’s try to treat ourselves these days just as Mary treats Him. With the same care and acceptance.

Let this be a Christmas gift, a Christmas prayer: “Lord, You are being born right now and You cannot do anything yet. And I can’t do anything either. I give up. I want to lie down next to You and pray. I want Mary to take care of the two of us.”

And by giving up, by falling into these loving arms, I finally give God the opportunity to act. Isn’t that the main point of The Nativity of Christ: Icons and FrescosFor almost two thousand years, iconographers have been painting icons and frescos of the Nativity, on which we can see the swaddled Infant in the manger, the Mother of God, Joseph, the animals at the manger, as well as the adoration of the Magi, the washing of the infant, the shepherds, and the angels.

“>Christmas? Give up and get closer to Him.

Author Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Harvard-trained economist and mother of eight, realized somewhere along the line that “in a two-child world, an eight-child choice begs for an explanation.” 

The result is a book called “Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth” (Regnery Gateway, $24.99). 

Pakaluk happens to be Catholic but she didn’t choose her family size because the Church decreed it. Our stance on abortion and birth control notwithstanding, as Pakaluk points out, “There’s no doctrine that it’s holier to end up with more kids.” 

And in fact (read it and weep), Catholics use birth control at about the same rate as everyone else. 

With the birthrate tumbling, only 5% of U.S. females currently have five or more kids. (Pakaluk chose five or more because five struck her as the tipping point indicating conscious commitment to a big family). What drives these women? she began to wonder. 

But first, she asked herself. 

“I supposed it boils down to some sort of deeply held thing, possibly from childhood — a platinum conviction — that the capacity to conceive children, to receive them into my arms, to take them home, to dwell with them in love, to sacrifice for them as they grow, and to delight in them as the Lord delights in us, that that thing, call it motherhood, call it childbearing, that that thing is the most worthwhile thing in the world — the most perfect thing I am capable of doing.” 

In the summer of 2019, she and a colleague, Emily Reynolds, traveled to 10 American regions and interviewed 55 other women with five or more children “to find out why they do what they do and what they think it means — for themselves, for their families, and for the nation.” 

The book comprises a series of more or less unedited conversations about the nature of their childbearing decisions. 

Hannah, 44, and Esther, 42, neighbors in a small New England college town and both Jewish, kick off the book. Esther is nursing her ninth kid, 2 weeks old, as the conversation takes place. 

Hannah tends to her seventh, just about to turn one. 

Hannah always planned on a large family, but Esther never even wanted to get married. 

Along with most of the other women in the book, Hannah and Esther had consciously discarded “an autonomous, customized, self-regarding lifestyle” in favor of something higher. Hannah’s reasons, she said, were super-rational, “reasons of the heart.” 

Instead of losing themselves, Hannah and Esther both felt they had found themselves in having children, that there wasn’t less of them, but rather more. 

Humanity is linked in a chain, they observed. To have children links us in a specific way, going back to our ancestors, and in the other direction to an infinite future. 

Everyone’s searching for an identity: their identities and meaning had come to be grounded in motherhood. The life is hard, the life involves self-sacrifice, but it also brings an inner peace. As a self-propelled youth, Hannah was searching. “I’m not searching now.” 

The stories unfold from there. Some of the women reside in tiny zip codes; others live paycheck to paycheck. Many have advanced degrees; others haven’t gone much past high school. Some women chose to continue to work outside the home; others are content to let their husbands be the breadwinners. Some continued full-time academic or corporate careers; others adapted to part time or let the careers lapse completely while their kids were young. Some homeschooled; others sent the children to public, private, or Catholic schools. 

Many follow a religious faith; others are resolutely secular. Some women were seemingly born wanting large families so that when the time came, they more or less effortlessly found a mate who wanted the same thing and started happily in. 

Others had been initially horrified at the thought of a large, or really any, family, but had come around, sometimes through a religious conversion; sometimes through the influence of a spouse, family, and friends; sometimes through inner searching that had led them to realize that the chains imposed by a lemming-like, consumerist culture are infinitely more binding than the limits imposed by a large family. 

Throughout, almost to a woman, runs the idea that children are simply a rock-bottom good. A good in and of themselves, a good to those who bear and nurture them, a good to the nation and to the world. Also, of course, an incredible amount of work, a cause of anxiety, a sacrifice of sleep, time, effort, money, often vacations, often career, and always a sacrifice of a certain kind of ease and rest, no matter how materially wealthy the household. 

Throughout, to a woman, runs the conviction that no matter what, the children were absolutely the right choice. 

To bear and raise children is to contribute in the deepest possible way to the good of mankind, and to enter in the deepest possible way into the mystery of existence. 

Observed Hannah Arendt in her 1958 classic “The Human Condition”: “It is, in other words, the birth of new men and the new beginning, the action they are capable of by virtue of being born. Only the full experience of this capacity can bestow upon human affairs faith and hope.”