Q: My 10-year-old son said to me, “Didn’t we already have Advent last year? Why are we doing it again?” Can you help me answer his question?

Your son asked a very good question! If the baby Jesus was already born, lived his life, died and rose, why are we preparing for his coming all over again? The liturgical year of the church is often depicted as a circle and we refer to it as a cycle in that it comes around again and again every year.

As we celebrate this cycle through our liturgy, we remember the events of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The liturgical year is divided into two main seasons of preparation and celebration: Advent leads us to Christmas, and Lent leads us to Easter and Pentecost. Periods of Ordinary Time come between these major seasons.

During a visit last month to Aquinas Academy in Menomonee Falls, Fr. Francis “Rocky” Hoffman shared his vision for having Christ-centered homes.

During his talk, “Family: The Antidote to a Toxic Culture,” Fr. Hoffman, senior director of mission, programming and development at Relevant Radio, and a frequently heard on-air talent, spent little time discussing the ills of society, opting to focus on what could be done to curtail those ills. About 100 people attended the talk.

According to Fr. Hoffman, toxins within families can be attributed to a number of factors, including addictive behavior, working unreasonably long hours and coveting money and material possessions. He said those toxins have been eroding the family structure over time, and that Catholics are not exempt from them.

Fr. Francis “Rocky” Hoffman can be heard on Relevant Radio, 100.1 FM on Morning Air, during the 7 a.m. hour and is a guest on “Go Ask Your Father,” Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon.

You are an Altairian.

That’s because you live on the planet Altair-2. You’re attending high school there, and have just been given a tough homework assignment. Your teacher requires a research paper on the odd inhabitants of Earth, a plant located in the galaxy just to the left.

You ask, “What makes them so special?”

Your teacher answers, “Earthlings seem to be evenly divided about whether it is better to love one another or hate one another. The assignment is for you to find out which impulse is more powerful.”

Keeping Christ in Christmas doesn’t need to be one more “to-do” on your already packed December calendar. Jesus was born [...]