Go now to Bethlehem

Most Christians long to reflect and pray where Christ was born, walked and taught; and where he died and rose again. Political realities stand in the way for many, but these are not an insurmountable barrier to an encounter with the ?Fifth Gospel?...

Parish that embraces the world

Amid the wheatfields of Suffolk, East Anglia?s largest Catholic church is flourishing, buoyed by newcomers who are breathing fresh life into the faith community. It is a remarkable success story of integration...

Results of the vote for your favourite carol

1. O Holy Night
2. In the Bleak Midwinter
3. Once in Royal David's City...
...

Waiting for God

Advent is when we look forward to marking the time of the first coming. But it can also be when we reflect on the end of time itself ? the moment of the second coming, and of all the Christian story that lies between...

Madonnas of an enigmatic artist

The artist Marianne Stokes, who in 1907-08 painted the Madonna and Child reproduced on the cover of this issue, was unusual for her time in that a strong spirituality pervaded her works. In an age when religious painting was on the wane in Britain, she turned to the techniques and style of the early Italian masters for inspiration...

Vive la diff?rence

Christmas comes to Lille as busloads of Brits chase something ?a little bit French?, while the city?s French citizens look for something ?un peu anglais?. Shopping as ever seems central to the season, but on the other side of La Manche the sense of panic and frenzy is missing...

Happy Christmas from Baghdad

In the face of bombings and gunfire, the congregation of the Anglican Church in Baghdad, forced to worship in a government office, is concentrating on a simple Christmas ? of mutual support, prayer and survival ...

Breeze that blows open the heart

A song, a dance, a prayer: there are occasions when the often difficult circumstances of our daily lives are transcended and we can glimpse the sacred impulse of our souls. These moments are tiny incarnations of heaven?s promise...

A lifetime of carolling

One of Britain?s most celebrated conductors and arrangers reflects on the power that Christmas carols still hold...

Fair trade abroad and at home

Have an ethical Christmas with our guide to giving small farmers a happy new year...

When a fresh start is in order

Inspired by a need to recover balance in their monastic lives, a community of Bernardine Cistercian nuns made a plea through The Tablet for a new home. As one of the sisters explains, it was a plea that led to a surprising discovery, and a new life...

Midas comes to Chile

Demand for gold leaps at Christmas, and new global factors mean the price recently hit a 25-year-high. All this gives added incentives to mining companies, and construction work is to begin on a massive US$1.5 billion project in Latin America in the New Year. Local farmers and environmental groups, however, have pledged resistance ...

Give us the grace for joy

As the prayers for the third and fourth Sundays in Advent and for Christmas Day show, our preparation to welcome the Incarnation of God requires the grace of the Word made flesh. Daniel McCarthy describes this gift that allows us, at our Lord?s Nativity, to express outwardly in joyful celebration what has already been received inwardly...

A time to consume

It is too easy to indulge in wholesale condemnations of the materialism associated with Christmas but even in unbridled consumption are values to be embraced...