Topic: Hope

If the message of Christmas is real, then our preparations for it need to be radically life-changing.

Faced with the decline and disintegration of the Church, we are called to offer ourselves to God as the new branch who faithfully carry God’s love and mercy into a new era.

Christ’s grief gathers up our griefs and achieves the promise of a day when tears will be no more.

In his suffering death, Jesus calls us to solidarity with all who suffer, and in his complete lack of vengefulness, the risen Christ offers the hope of healing from our violence.

Those who faithfully follow Jesus and proclaim his message are flawed human beings who will not often appear successful or impressive.

The physicality of the resurrection is a mystery that assures us that God values and honours us as whole, embodied humans, even if our bodies are damaged or worn out.

The good news of resurrection meets us in the darkest places of our lives and so is initially incomprehensible and disorienting.

The transfiguration reminds us that in and through Jesus, the perfect Son of God and the perfect Son of Man, we each have the potential to experience and to be glimpses of God who is the true agent of change in our lives and in the world.

The the birth of Jesus we see the beginning of a peace mission that is not based on force but on patience, forgiveness and presence.

Discovering who we are called to be is an ever-evolving journey as we follow Jesus in changing circumstances.

Though we are to strive for righteousness and justice now, what we achieve now is a mere shadow of what will be fulfilled in the day of the Lord.

Even in the midst of our worst troubles, uniting with God brings purpose and joy (which is not the same as mere happiness), and joy is an antidote to fear.