Feast of the Holy Family

Luke has told us because of God’s intense love for us God has entered our world: dwelling among us, dining, rejoicing, crying, healing, bleeding, and triumphing with us. We see Jesus being introduced to a wider faith community by his parents, to be part of a new creation –a new family. But as Simeon prophesies, it will not end happily for Jesus, his parents, and certainly not for many children slaughtered at the time. It continues in a world that can be dark and hostile in form of ongoing hostility between nations, between groups, the arms trade and vilifying language And God cries with those distraught mothers as well as those today.

Last-minute negotiations are taking place in Dubai at the UN's climate conference, as representatives from nearly 200 nations try to agree on the future of oil, gas and coal. A draft deal stopped short of calling for the phasing out of the use of fossil fuels - a position that countries including Australia, the US and the UK would not back. Pacific Island states said the draft deal would be their death certificate. It's hoped an agreement can be reached in the final hours before the summit ends. [Source: ABC]

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Pope Francis, in Fratelli Tutti, speaks of the need for an open heart. He writes, ‘the guarantee of an authentic openness to God….is a way of practicing the faith that helps open our hearts to our brothers and sisters.’ It the key for building peace in our world. Francis has tried to address breakdowns in human relationships which lead to violence and a culture of indifference by calling for a culture of encounter. It is a call to develop a culture of kindness especially in the face of divisions made evidenced by hateful language, mean-spiritedness, prejudice, and neglect.