With the start of a new liturgical year, with Advent 2023, Crux Stationalis takes you to the very first Roman Station Church of the year: St. Mary Major or Santa Maria Maggiore in Italian.

It’s my favorite church in Rome — don’t tell St. Peter.

But, why?

It houses the relics of the crib of Jesus. So as we begin to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, the Church of Rome, the local Church of Rome, which Roman and pilgrim alike can call home, goes to visit this little Crib of Christ.

Christ Himself has nowhere to lay His Sacred Head in His Passion, and even as an Infant Child He only had the wood of the crib to rest His little Head: a foreshadowing of his total kenosis in His Passion and Death.

And how easy and simple it is to welcome a child into your arms, but even the Christ Child is rejected when we commit sin.

Renew your love for Christ today. And say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

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