The Blessing of Christmas
Overview
This profusely illustrated book is ideal for personal or group meditations during the Christmas and Advent season. With its inspiring, profound, yet popular meditations on the blessings of the season, this volume by Pope Benedict XVI is a spiritual guide for the soul. Taken from his sermons as well as his writings, these beautiful meditations by the acclaimed spiritual teacher, writer and now Pontiff, give his usual fresh insights into the deeper meaning of this most wondrous event, and show the pope to be a man who knows how to address both the mind and the heart.
In the Verbum edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Verbum Catholic Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
Save more when you purchase this book as part of the Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI Collection (48 vols.).
Key Features
- Presents an ideal book for personal or group meditations
- Includes popular meditations for the Christmas and Advent season
- Provides profound biblical teaching for both Protestants and Catholics
Contents
- At the Beginning of Advent: An Advent Dialogue with the Sick
- The Genealogy of Jesus
- The Tree of Life
- Ox and Ass at the Crib
- The Feast of the Spirit
- The New Star
- “The Light Shines in the Darkness”
- “And the Word Became Flesh”
Product Details
- Title: The Blessing of Christmas
- Author: Joseph Ratzinger
- Translator: Brian McNeil
- Publisher: Ignatius Press
- Publication Date: 2007
- Pages: 144
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Advent and Christmas
About Joseph Ratzinger
Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors of our time. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, roles of men and women today, marriage, the priesthood, and the future of the world. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He also received his doctorate in theology in 1953 from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.
After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977, and was elevated to cardinal in June 1977. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission.
On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. As pope, he received worldwide respect and was a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike. In 2013, he resigned the papacy, becoming the first pope to do so in since the fifteenth century. He retired to a monastery in the Vatican Gardens, where he continues to study and write.
Save more when you purchase this book as part of the Select Works of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI (21 vols.).
Key Features
- Presents an ideal book for personal or group meditations
- Includes popular meditations for the Christmas and Advent season
- Provides profound biblical teaching for both Protestants and Catholics
Contents
- At the Beginning of Advent: An Advent Dialogue with the Sick
- The Genealogy of Jesus
- The Tree of Life
- Ox and Ass at the Crib
- The Feast of the Spirit
- The New Star
- “The Light Shines in the Darkness”
- “And the Word Became Flesh”
Top Highlights
“wise men, who are looking for the true Lord of the earth; and Simeon and Anna, whose” (Page 111)
“But when time itself is meaningful and each moment contains something valuable of its own, the joyful anticipation of something greater, something still to come, makes even more precious that which we already experience.” (Page 25)
“Silence means developing the inner senses, the sense of the conscience, the sensitivity to the eternal in us, the ability to listen to God.” (Page 92)
“The Latin word adventus can be translated as ‘presence’ or ‘arrival’.1” (Pages 15–17)
“A second basic element of Advent is waiting—a waiting that is an act of hope” (Page 22)
Product Details
- Title: The Blessing of Christmas
- Author: Joseph Ratzinger
- Translator: Brian McNeil
- Publisher: Ignatius Press
- Publication Date: 2007
- Pages: 144
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Advent and Christmas
About Joseph Ratzinger
Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors of our time. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, roles of men and women today, marriage, the priesthood, and the future of the world. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He also received his doctorate in theology in 1953 from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.
After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977, and was elevated to cardinal in June 1977. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission.
On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. As pope, he received worldwide respect and was a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike. In 2013, he resigned the papacy, becoming the first pope to do so in since the fifteenth century. He retired to a monastery in the Vatican Gardens, where he continues to study and write.
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