As Christmas approaches, we are reminded of happy memories of waking up on Christmas morning and rushing to the Christmas tree to discover what Santa Claus had left us. It was something we had been waiting for throughout the year. We had striven to be good for, as the song goes, Santa knows “when we’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!”. The Christian life is a bit like that: we are called to be “good”; that is, called to holiness, to be Christ-like, as we wait for Jesus’ second coming. The big difference is, we don’t strive to be good – to love God and our neighbours as ourselves – to earn a present. Rather, we want to be good because that is what we are created to be. We are created by God for God and our ultimate destination is God, and not a present at the end of the year that will lose its value after only a few weeks. So let us prepare for our ultimate destination with patience, humility and charity, living by the values that Jesus Himself lived by.

… and while I have your attention, I would like to say a sincere “thank you” for being so supportive while Fr Dominic recovers from his hip replacement. I have been inundated with love and offers of help of all sorts. I cannot tell you how reassuring it is to know that help is only a phone call away whenever I need it.