The Advent Readings have told us repeatedly to stay awake and to remain in a frame of mind where we expect eagerly something special and different to happen.
Christian teaching uses many different words to express this sense of what is special: peace and goodwill; incarnation and salvation; repentance and forgiveness. All of these point us towards what is different: the fact that God wants us to accept his friendship of us. And the person at the heart of this is Jesus.
One of the greatest gifts the modern world has given us is communication and connection with each other and with people we will probably never meet in the flesh; yet we see and hear them on radio, television or on our phones.
Worldwide communication has given us a stronger and a deeper sense of God’s word and of God’s world. It has given us the capacity to understand the religious commitment of people of World Faiths other than our own as well as the integrity and compassion of people of no expressed faith.
The peoples of the Philippines are uppermost in our thoughts and prayers at Christmas 2013 as are the peoples of Syria and of Gaza. They deserve a little forward planning and organization in terms of generosity and giving in this season of peace and goodwill.
The Most Reverend Michael Jackson,
Archbishop of Dublin