Two Talks for Tuesday

Today on opeast.org, we have two great talks looking at the mysteries of Advent from very different angles: one from Fr. Austin Litke, O.P., on the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one from Br. Gregory Pine, O.P., on the meaning of Christmas music. Fr. Austin spoke to the Catholic Artists Society on December 5 at Old St. Patrick’s in New York City, reflecting on the place the Blessed Virgin holds in the spiritual life of all Christians, looking in particular at three of her titles found in the Litany of Loreto. The complete talk can be found here. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/123927716″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Br. Gregory spoke at both St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Charlottesville and the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., on the theme, “The Xmas Soundtrack: Rudolph, Frosty, and Man’s Search for Meaning.” His talk explores the authentic Christian desires that can be found—deeply buried at times—in elevator- and mall-PA-system classics like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” and the emotional “Christmas Shoes.” Br. Gregory’s talk is the second in a four-part series of Advent talks given by the Dominican student brothers, entitled “Symbols of the Season: Decoding Man’s Desire for God.”. The first talk by Br. Raymund Snyder, “Season’s Greetings: Unpacking the Liturgy of Festive Cliché,” is available here.