Great news, everyone: Pope Benedict’s final volume of Jesus of Nazareth on the Infancy narratives is set to come out in time for Christmas! You can bet that I will be posting many times on this work in the Spring after I get the chance to read and digest it. I can’t recommend these books by Benedict enough. The first time I read Volume 1, I thought, “Same old stuff I already knew about Jesus.” However, after re-reading more meditatively and teaching with the books, I have found them to be one of the greatest written gifts given to the Church by Pope Benedict.
In other news, I thought some people might enjoy this video of my toddler daughter Julia singing the Salve Regina. I can never get her doing the whole thing when she knows she is on camera, but I found this video from July on my computer last night and found it pretty good. One of my colleagues told me it should go on Youtube. A student here in Florence also told me that hearing her sing the Salve has shamed him into learning it, so perhaps this will do so for others as well!