hello, and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. this will be the last show of 2018. we want to think channel 5 for another year of this wonderful public service. this show is all about christmas. it doesn't air until december 23rd and you may say, isn't that a little bit late? christmas is almost over. you have christmas eve and christmas day and that is about it. you recycle gift wrap and take down the tree and plan a new year's party. butno. y isst the

beginning. you know the song about the 12 days, there are 12 days and more than 12. they are populated not so much by maids of milking and lords of leaping, but from december 25th, the feast of jesus birth to january 13th, the feast of the baptism, we enter into a wondrous cavalcade of stories human and divine, heavenly and earthy, unique events and characters a time full of love and danger and excitement and revelation, poetry, and holiness. our gift today, please rejoin us, we will learn from laura about the riches of christmas.

good morning and welcome to mosaic. i wanted introduce our guest today. you work for the archdiocese of san francisco. >> i am the director of worsp . >> there is an office of worship. >> there is. >> i think you would be called a liturgist? and i think you are an amateur theologian, sort of an historian, you're very well versed in things catholic and the archdiocese depends on you to make sure that our liturgies and ceremonies are proper and correct and right. from copley, yes. >> were talking about christmas.

and i think we want to, you have created a little slideshow for us. our point here today is that christmas is full of riches, and if you are willing to slow down and see the season for what it is, you enter into a wonderful set of stories that really have no end. there's depth to them and how should we start this? what should we do? >> i think it talked about it earlier, christmas isn't just one day and it's not just those 12 annoying sounds from that song. >> i get a little bit tired by the end of it. but it doesn't start 12 days before christmas, christmas is actually the first day, the 26th is the first day and then we go 12 days. i told you earlier, nothing makes me sadder than when i'm driving on the 26th of december and i see dead christmas trees already on the curb and i think okay, they are done and finished, toys have been unwrapped already broken by now, we're finished. as ms. keeps going.

we have an entire christmas season. in the catholic church, other than easter, christmas is the one season where we have an octave. we think it is so important we don't celebrate for one day, we celebrate for eight days. so that is the very first thing, we have this great feast and then we say, we will celebrated, will make a party of it for eight full days. and within that time, we have some feasts, we then celebrate the holy family and within that, also mary as mother of god, we have further feasts until the baptism of the lord. that is christmas, the entire season. >> can we put up the slides? take us a little bit through the detail. we have slides which take us from december 25th into the 13th. quickly through these things. >> the first octave as we call it, first the nativity of the lord, the birth of christ. immediately following is the feast of saint stephen who was the first martyr. and then we have the feast of

saint john the evangelist and we believe wrote the book of john as well as several other books of the bible, the feast of the holy innocents, not the most of the story, but an important one for us. we then have a day without any special moniker called the fifth day after christmas. then that sunday, we celebrate the holy family of jesus, jesus and mary and joseph being the holy family unit put together. and then i can, monday becomes a down day of the day within the octave of christmas, but then the second week starts and we have the feast january first while everyone else celebrates new year's and gets over the rebels, we have mary, the holy mother of god celebrating. it is a lovely feast. and then following that is if you memorials. we have basil and gregory the great, a few wonderful doctors of the church. we have the memorial of to american saints, to bury important american saints. on the fourth and fifth, then we have epiphany, january sixth which falls on a sunday this

year, many times it doesn't. it's wonderful that it falls on a sunday and normally we have to move it. >> epiphany means a showing fourth? >> the arrival of the spirit is what we would say. and that in many places in the east is there christmas, that's a much more important feast for them. >> the feast of three kings? >> beast of the arrival, all of that. >> do we have a further slide? >> the next week, we only insert when christmas is early, so we have a week of christmas weekday masses but it culminates in january 13th this year when we and the christmas season with the baptism of the lord. >> the baptism of the lord. and so interesting, the first chapter of any good catholic's life, you're born in a couple weeks later, you are baptized. you take it in order, but i'm curious, who did baptized jesus? >> john the baptist. >> john the baptist. the nativity stories, there's only two nativity stories in the gospels of matthew and luke, but the baptism story by john is in all four of the

gospels. which is one of the reasons the east find it a very important feast and more authentic because that is where he begins his ministry and where we actually see the revelation of god, this is my some, this is my son whom i love. so that is important for us saying christmas is over, like you said, baptism is a very important occasion when you mark your life as a christian. >> one by one, you have a slide to show that is, you tell me, you call them out. >> january 25th, we have the nativity of christ and immediately following, the feast of saint stephen. the old king on the feast of the season, stephen, he was a deacon and the first martyr and died in about 35. he lived in the time of christ. >> and he died in jerusalem? >> yes. because he preached the gospel

of christ and he said, they said you have to back off and he said you can kill me but i won't let go. >> the story is told in the acts of the apostles? >> it is interesting to me that the first day after jesus birth is the first death on his behalf. it is a grim start to a religion. >> it doesn't get any nicer because the following day is the feast of the holy innocents. >> a little information is over there. >> i'm sorry, feast of st. john. so john the evangelist shown as an eagle in many depictions of him mainly because he is the most spiritual of the gospels, the 57 foot of the gospel. >> he was one of jesus disciples? we credit the gospel. >> we credit him, there's a lot of debate about that, some say he is the gospel whom jesus loved, often referred to as that, he would've been contemporary with jesus. >> writing soon after that.

so let's take a little break. the next one we will look at when we come back is going to be what, the feast of the holy innocents. a dramatic and tragic moment. i hope you can fill us in on that. we will take a brief break and we will be back and talk about the riches of christmas. [ music ]

hello, and welcome back to mosaic. we are here with laura, the director of the office of worship for the archdiocese of san francisco. how many years have you been doing this job? >> this is my seventh year. >> what is the training and expertise? >> i have a degree in liturgy from the university of notre dame and most of people in my role have a masters or doctorate in liturgy and we

have several priests that have this role. it's someone who has a passion for liturgy and how the church prays and you have to have a little bit of knowledge of how ceremonies work and how to put things together almost like a producer on a show. >> that's right. some of the viewers have been to the cathedral of san francisco and seen the beautiful liturgies taking place, you are the manager, the stage manager. >> i tell people when my friends as, it is like being a wedding core nader. of course choosing the readings and the music and making sure all the people are inght place at the right time. >> it is beautiful and ornate and complex and suggestive liturgy. they all have this quality to them. >> if i've done it right. >> now we are talking about christmas and moving slowly through the feast days and we are on to the feast of the holy innocents. >> it is not the most up eat feast in the world. it is the story from luke where

king herod who heard that there was a new king had been born and try to get the wisemen to tell him where he was. when they realized they wouldn't find out, he decided the best way to get rid of the king is to kill any male child under the age of two. he sent out the armies to slay the innocent children. any boy child under the age of two. if this reminds people of the story of moses, it is very similar because luke was echoing that story of moses. these were the first martyrs, the first people to die unwillingly. they were not like stephen saying this is my faith and i will die for it, they were completely innocent in the whole scheme of things yet they suffered because of one man's jealousy and anger. and in this time, it is kind of a downer if you days after christmas but in our world, we have a lot of innocents who are slain and a lot of children who don't have what they need. it is a time for the church to

reap, to reflect and pray on it. >> in the palestinian context, the canaanites had the gods of ball and others and there was child sacrifice which was a part of the pagan religions that preceded, so the children seem to get it in the neck and it is unfortunate. >> it's like a tyrant illuminating arrival. >> the three kings, we give the feast later? >> you keep saying three kings and i have to correct you. i have to say these things. we always say three kings, there's no evidence of how many there were, they had three gifts, i just like to say the wisemen. >> wisemen from the east. >> zoroastrian, astrologers. gentiles of great learning.

so they were the first gentiles along with in matthew's gospel, we have the shepherds and those people coming to see them who are the first to acknowledge the christ, these are the gentiles that come forward and seek the son of god. >> we will get to their feast in the first week of january. >> after the 20th, the feast of the holy innocents? >> we go into a little bit of a lull and on january first, while everyone else is celebrating new year's day, we celebrate the feast of mary mother of god, it used to be the feast of the circumcision which is a ritual in the jewish tradition, now we focus more on mary and the fact that she said yes to having jesus and the fact that she was his main nurturer for the growing up years. we don't know much about jesus's early life. so acknowledging that, also we use it as the day of prayer for peace and world peace. >> this is a global feast? >> the holy day of obligation. >> that is another point that

people should know about, a holy day of obligation means what? >> that catholics are required to attend mass on that date. it is a day separate from sunday's work catholics are required to go to mass, it is a special day we say it's an important day, you should spend an hour in prayer membering the feast so the readings are about the people on that date. so there's only seven or eight throughout the year. they are extra special days we want to put out. >> they are clustered, christmas the 25th, a holy day of obligation, any nearby sunday is a holy day of obligation and then january first? >> a week later. >> this is sort of, it enriches your life as a worshiper? >> and to learn the stories. so mary the mother of god known as our mother, i take it, wonderful.

what happens next? >> january second is the feast of saint basil the great. >> these are doctors of the church, nice icons. they were 31st century. -- third or fourth century, they have special knowledge and contributed to the formation of the church, there's not many of them. so they have to share the feast together. but together, such wonderful influence especially in the east, this is a big feast for the orthodox brothers. >> where were they bishops? >> northern africa and antioch. >> and they were both men, but there are doctors of the church that are female? they contributed to the literature and understanding of the church. >> a special ranking. >> these are gregory of >> non-xeon's and. >> i hope i'm saying that the way i learned to say it. >> and basil the great.

>> was he a pope? >> great men in their own right. >> we will take a brief break and learn more about the riches of christmas.

welcome back to mosaic. apparently, we have also gone to bethlehem. >> this is what we would call in italy a present po. i was raised in italy for the first couple of years. each of my brothers and sisters and i have a full set, it is a nativity scene and many people would say a crash. you see them in churches. it was made possible, popular by st. francis of assisi. >> he had seen it back in jerusalem and he brought it over to europe. and it became very popular. initially, they were very popular to be live, now we have to little figurines which are bit more rational. ivan entire set with sheep and goats. >> i hope so, yes. >> this little one that you are looking at right now is made out of corn husks and given to

me by a friend, it is a traveling set. that one is good. you see the three kings, there are three in that set mary and jesus and joseph. this is just a commemoration of what we are really celebrating. i occasionally put up a christmas tree. sometimes i do and sometimes i don't, i always put up the preceptor you. >> this is of an italian manufacturer? >> from northern italy a gift for my grandmother. >> and the christmas tree, i think is a dramatic tradition. >> there is a lot of, is it more pagan or not, it's a lovely idea having the storm top reminds us of the star of bethlehem, but it is more of a commercial thing than a religious, well, this would be religious and almost every church will have a crash scene somewhere. >> it is very nice and very spiritual. take us again through little trip through the christmas octave. >> this year, we are celebrating between sunday which is the feast of the holy family and the following sunday , the epiphany and the feast of the holy family, we have two saints that are american. >> that is interesting. we would be discussing it, the

reason of saints day, it's the day they died so there's no coincidence or whatever, that stephon tuitt died. so the first is saint elizabeth ann seton. >> i think we have a slide with some information. she was a fascinating woman. a woman of the early 1800s she had five children and raised episcopalian, quite wealthy, her husband was elk eventually went bankrupt, she had to raise her five children alone and lost several of her children. during that time when they were in italy, she found catholicism and she was helped by some sisters and came back to the united states and founded in order. the sisters of charity of st. joseph. and they are mainly a teaching and hospital order. people in the bay area would know seton hospital is named after her. >> that was her married name? elizabeth ann seton. >> and she died on january fourth and was canonized at

some point. >> 1975. >> it was quite a while. >> the canonization process is lengthy. >> it can be very short. john paul and mother teresa were quite short and especially in the modern age, things get rushed a bit. >> sparkling with holiness. >> what happens on the next day. >> on the fifth we have another american like elizabeth and. he was a bohemian, john newman, bishop of philadelphia. he is not, some people think of cardinal newman in santa rosa, different newman. >> and he was very good at catechisms. he wrote two of them in german, he died in the late to mid 1800s and he was a very holy man . >> was he a missionary that came here as a missionary? >> he was a man who was called to the priesthood and went to

his own bishop in europe and said we want to be a priest, he said we have too many. >> he kept writing people and saying can i be a priest and everyone turned them down because they had too many. so we ended up having to come all the way to america before someone would accept him to go into seminary and become a priest and he was a very holy man. >> ordained here in michigan territory. >> back then, mid 1800s, mission territory. >> the problem wasn't too many priest, we have to have the circuit writing priest that went over the whole area. >> and native speaking priests that could serve the community so he would've served a great deal of the germanic immunity and philadelphia being on the east coast, that would make sense. >> are the writings exited? >> yes. >> so this is january fifth, that's the last slide, but we know that january sixth is the feast of the epiphany. >> i've always felt that i've learned somewhere that a tradition, i don't know where i learned it, you take down the

christmas tree that day and you have a party and you have a fire and you burn the christmas tree? >> that is a nice one, there's a lot of traditions. >> we cut up the tree and burned it outside and had a marshmallow roast. >> i don't know if the three kings would appreciate that or not. >> the idea of gift giving is from those kings that gave golden frankincense and myrrh and it's a celebration of the awakening of us realizing who christ is. some people put the emphasis on the three kings which is only in one of our gospels. others put it more on the idea of christ present with us. there's so many traditions. especially in europe and the east. they have a lot more traditions. i told you i was a telling, we have the tradition of the good witch who on january the sixth leaves hopefully candy in your shoes. it's like stockings, i think there's a little overlap with santa claus and stockings but this is like i said in these,

many people give gifts, 12th night, famous play. you have a 12th night party because this is the end of the rebels of the christmas season. >> we have about a minute left, i would like to sum up what you would like people to take away from this discussion about christmas. >> i would say enjoy december 25th and if you want to sing happy birthday, that's fine. it is the nativity of the lord, but first of all, the season goes for a lot longer because it is so important and we love celebrating it. but the most important thing is that as the scriptures say, god so loved the world that he sent his only son, god incarnate. we celebrate activity but we celebrate the incarnation of christ and that is a celebration we will have for several days and it's so beta02 his family and mother and innocent people who were slain. i say say merry christmas to someone every day of those 12 days even if you want to keep going until the 19th when we have the 19th day when we have

the baptism, because that is truly the christmas season and it's not just about the toys. >> thank you for being here with us and thank you for watching mosaic and enjoy your christmas and all your christmases.

from kpix 5, this is bay area 5 news. a spike in? cases has followed us into the new year. coming up, what doctors say could finally put an end to the pandemic 'most music submissions were canceled this year, but it was still surprisingly busy on the road for law enforcement officers. we'll tell you how many tickets they gave them. good morning, sunday january 2nd. thank you so much for joining us point i'm devin fehely. let's start with a quick check of the weather