Dear Parishioners and Friends,
A Season for Peace and Reflection
Today we are invited to pause on the threshold of Christmas and listen again to the quiet yet powerful message delivered to Joseph in today’s Gospel reading: “Do not be afraid.” In these final days before Christmas, Pope Leo’s Christmas message offers timely guidance for our hearts and our world.
At the centre of the Pope’s message is a clear and urgent call for peace, fraternity and reflection. Aware of the many conflicts, acts of violence and deep divisions that scar our world, Pope Leo urges us to begin where peace always begins… within our own hearts! “We must eliminate hatred from our hearts,” he says. Advent reminds us that the Prince of Peace arrives as a vulnerable child, entrusted to human care and compassion.
This invitation speaks deeply to us as Australians, especially as we continue to carry the sorrow and shock of the massacre at Bondi Beach during the Jewish Hanukka festival just a few days ago. Such violence wounds individuals, the community, and the whole country. Advent brings this pain to the manger. There, we entrust our grief, our fear and our longing for safety and justice to the God who chooses to dwell among us.
The Pope also encourages us to rediscover the power of reflection during this holy season. The Christmas tree, familiar carols and Christmas cards and messages are not simply decorations or traditions; they are reflection opportunities. The Nativity scene itself allows us to find moments of prayerful stillness in a hurried world. In contemplating the newborn Christ, we are invited to ask God for the renewal of peace and fraternity in our families and neighbourhood.
Pope Leo also highlights the Church’s commitment to life and the protection of the vulnerable, symbolised in this year’s Nativity artwork in St Peter’s Square. In the fragile child laid in a manger, we recognise every fragile life as sacred.
As Christmas draws near, may we allow music, prayer and quiet reflection to lift our hearts, heal our divisions and draw us closer together. May this Advent prepare us not only to celebrate Christ’s birth, but to welcome his peace into our world.
God bless you
Fr Silvio