In this Christmas special episode of The Catholic Talk Show, the guys discuss things you didn’t know about the history and traditions around the birth of Jesus!
In this episode, you will learn:
• What year was Jesus actually born in?
• What was the real Star of Bethlehem
• Where is the relic of the Manger?
• Which saint created the first Nativity Scene
• When does Christmas actually end?
• and much more
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I was wondering what is the picture that is directly below the clock?
It’s Diamond Dave (David Lee Roth) wearing a velvet jacket with Pope John Paul II on it. Kind of a running joke between the guys.
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This is the star documentary to which you were referring: https://youtu.be/u7YTE7WFB6Y
Not only does it have all the connections to Easter celestial phenomena that you mention, but the birthdate is reverse-engineered from the date of Epiphany, which, based on the retrograde notion (which he takes to mean “the start stopped” when they reached the place where he was born) actually was on December 25. The host says it’s kind of poetic that “the first Christmas” (i.e. the date that Jesus was recognized and celebrated) was actually December 25.
Every year, I put my tree up on the day after Thanksgiving (I don’t take to the roads on Black Friday!), and I take it down on Candlemas. Everybody that questions it gets a brief history lesson about it, lol!
Great Catholic Talk Shows about Christmas and you discussed a lot of things including manger, Jesus’’ birthday, star, war, Herod, BC, AD, just to mention a few. During your next episode, would you please mind include some images. For example, the manger, star, Bethlehem (Jesus’ Birthplace or Church of Nativity), St. Mary Major in Vatican etc. These will help the audience to get the feel of the events that took place in the past and are now still taking place as we commemorate them. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Greetings!
Great Catholic Talk Shows about Christmas and you discussed a lot of things including manger, Jesus’’ birthday, star, war, Herod, BC, AD, just to mention a few. During your next episode, would you please mind including some images. For example, the manger, star, Bethlehem (Jesus’ Birthplace or Church of Nativity), St. Mary Major in Vatican etc. These will help the audience to get the feel of the events that took place in the past and are now still taking place as we commemorate them. Have a Merry Christmas 🎄 and a Happy New Year Greetings!
Merry Christmas guys,
I agree with other posted comments and wish you had the Nativity scene depicted on this show. I was always, and still am, a Christmas Crazy because the entire Season seems to be cloaked in peace and love. I actually know all three verses to almost every hymn sung since I was a kid. My favorites still remain Silent Night, O Holy Night, and Joy to the World, but actually love them all. I am a traditionalist. I sing them from November through January.
I agree with you RS that 2 B.C. makes sense as the most accurate year to be given for the birth of Jesus. The Star of Bethlehem has a celestial basis in astronomy. I had heard this before and you mentioned a configuration of aligned planets and I saw the Star of Bethlehem movie too and agree with its scientific analysis at least as presented. They made a good argument.
I had no idea there was a relic of the holy manger still remaining. Thank you for the new meditation and prayer application information on Hallow. I try to meditate daily especially while saying the Rosary. Fontanini is one of the most well known Italian makers of figures of the Nativity. As a small kid I had a nativity set that was passed down from Woolworth’s and some figures were made of chalk and the others were hard plastic. They were thought to be kid-proof and a learning tool. I had chewed on the lamb so much as a baby he was almost decapitated. I would play with it and talk with the Baby Jesus. I was reliving the journey and the arrival of the Baby Jesus. It made the story come alive for me as a child.
I so agree that Christmas should stay in our hearts all year long no matter how corny that sounds. The Twelve Days of Christmas end at the Epiphany or January 6th. I always left my real tree up to then or after New Year’s unless it was too droopy and dry. The ornaments on the tree gathered through the decades and some made with love or home made get visited each year which makes them almost a special surprise all over again as we forget them during the course of the year. The tree is always a magical display of lights, ornaments and memories.
Although I thank God every day for my gifts and blessings and all my loved ones this is the time of the year to appreciate them even more. All gifts from God and God sent us His son to live the human experience of flesh and blood. God also gave another gift to mankind, the gift of our own Guardian Angels.
“Invoke your Guardian Angel who will enlighten you. God gave you your Guardian Angel for this reason. So make use of your Angel’s service.” St. Padre Pio
Have a wonderful safe holiday with loved ones,
Andrea
When researching material for their eventual book, Killing Jesus, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard had commented on some of the historical topics that you covered in this podcast: the year of Jesus’ birth, the star, etc. If possible, it would be interesting for your show to have Bill and Martin on as guest speakers to further comment on the birth of Christ. I believe that both men are also Catholic so they could comment from both a historical perspective and from a faith perspective.
Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Tim
The star of Bethlehem would have been the supernatural star. Why because it stops in Bethlehem. I say it was an Angel. [Mathew 2:9-10 “Now they, having heard the king went their way. And behold, the star that they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over the place where the child was.” The Vision of Maria Valtorta about this is more vivid because she saw this like she was in that time.
The birth of Christ on December 25th is about right in our modern calendar according to our Mother Mary to the visionary in Medjugorje. Also, why would God missed lead His people if we are guided by The Holy Spirit? If heaven rejoices and celebrates Christmas too doesn’t it not the same time? Mother Mary said it is on this day many souls will be freed from Purgatory, like any Prisons in the world give amnesty and parole for criminals during Christmas day.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to The Catholic Talk Show Crew! In Mexico we have the tradition having Three King’s Cake on the Day of the Epiphany and if you get the baby Jesus, you have to bring tamales for Día de la Candelaria (February 2nd).
Thank you for bringing us these episodes. Love watching your show. God Bless you all!
Hi guys….
Christmas has always been a very special time for me because I was born on December 20th.
And, as an amateur astronomer I’ve always been fascinated by “The Star of Bethlehem”.
Some years ago, I came across this book “The Star of Bethlehem” by Astronomer David Hughes and
he really unpacks everything about it. What is very interesting is that he includes the vision of The Venerable Maria de Agreda, Abbess of the Order of St Francis, Spain (1602-1667) in which she tells how the star was created and what it did…I think this is the true “Star”
Merry Christmas,
P. Edward Murray
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
Quote from the book “The Star of Bethlehem” by Astronomer
David Hughes, © 1979 by David Hughes, Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, division of Gulf & Western Corp, NY, NY.
The vision of The Venerable Maria de Agreda, Abbess of the Order of St Francis, Spain (1602-1667) :
“At that time the angel who was sent to them [the Magi] from the stable at Bethlehem created in [or “out of” ] the air, by the power of God, a star of peculiar splendor, not so great however as those of the firmament, for this star was fixed, not in the sky, but in the lower air, in order to guide the Kings to the stable at Bethlehem. This star was of great splendor, different from that of the Sun and stars.
With its charming light it illuminated the night like a torch. When they started out from their homes, they all saw the star, although they started from different places. For it was so elevated and at such a distance that three could all see it. After they left their homes they soon met together and the star was lowered in the air and shone close to them…They went where the star guided them and when they arrived in Jerusalem (reasoning that there in the capital city the King of Judea would be born) , the star disappeared from their sight….When the Kings set out from Jerusalem, the star appeared in front of them again and led them to Bethlehem where it stopped. Then having come down a little and diminishing [in size and brightness] it went into the cave or stable and diminished more and more slowly, it came to rest over the head of the Divine child, surrounded it with a marvelous light and finally disappeared”.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I hope 2021 you do a new Christmas show although this is an excellent one. You can only rest on your laurels so long. This is Christmas during the year of the pandemic and most families are not together for large gatherings. But, we all can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this disease thankfully.
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”. Matthew 1:23
May God bless us everyone!
Andrea