- I was going to post this "Best of the Web" from yesterday for its "war on Christmas" update. But then everything else in it was good, too. (The John Kerry item, e.g.) So just read it. And this follow up. Curtsy to Insight Scoop.
- As usual ninme has several good reads up. Especially these two stories on the treatment of women. Under Saddam (from testimony at his trial --and he has the nerve to compare this to his being forced to wear the same shirt three days in a row). And this about child brides used to settle feuds in Pakistan. And this non-violent piece on women who fear pink (because they are misguided in their feminism).
- The Remedy elaborates on the Straussian/neocon vs. France conspiracy. I suspect we have the same source. I was recently re-reading Steve Hayward's review of Christopher Hitchens' collection of essays, and thought I'd find it for you, too.
- Go to Zadok the Roman for a great early photo of Benedict. And Johnny Cash. Then scroll down for the Pope & a Ferrari, prison yoga in Norway and his St. Nicholas post.
- Go to the First Things website for many interesting items in the blog (e.g. the discussion of Umberto Eco's attitude about Christmas), plus a link to "God on the Internet," an article in the current issue that has ignited an interesting blogosphere debate.
- And go here for all the transcripts of B16s celebration of Advent in one place. Check back as they add more things. A sample from vespers of the 1st Sunday of Advent:
Mary belonged to that part of the People of Israel who in Jesus' time were waiting with heartfelt expectation for the Saviour's coming. And from the words and acts recounted in the Gospel, we can see how she truly lived steeped in the Prophets' words; she entirely expected the Lord's coming.
She could not, however, have imagined how this coming would be brought about. Perhaps she expected a coming in glory. The moment when the Archangel Gabriel entered her house and told her that the Lord, the Saviour, wanted to take flesh in her, wanted to bring about his coming through her, must have been all the more surprising to her. We can imagine the Virgin's apprehension. Mary, with a tremendous act of faith and obedience, said "yes": "I am the servant of the Lord". And so it was that she became the "dwelling place" of the Lord, a true "temple" in the world and a "door" through which the Lord entered upon the earth.
We have said that this coming was unique: "the" coming of the Lord. Yet there is not only the final coming at the end of time: in a certain sense the Lord always wants to come through us. And he knocks at the door of our hearts: are you willing to give me your flesh, your time, your life? This is the voice of the Lord who also wants to enter our epoch, he wants to enter human life through us. He also seeks a living dwelling place in our personal lives. This is the coming of the Lord. Let us once again learn this in the season of Advent: the Lord can also come among us.
