Dear Friends and Supporters,
I hope you have a graced and restful Christmas. May you know the blessing and promise of Jesus’ birth as life and love are born again in our hearts.
I would like to thank our benefactors whose generosity has given happiness and possibilities to the people we live and work with throughout the world.
The photo you can see was taken by Columban Sister Mary Dillon at the Hope Home for AIDS victims in Myanmar. I was moved by this mother and child, a modern Madonna and Child. The child looks comfortable and calm while the mother is clearly anxious about the future as undoubtedly Mary was in Bethlehem.
The image brought home to me the enormity of what the Incarnation means. God becomes human. We have little trouble accepting that God took on the good things of being human but God also took on poverty, sickness, tragedies, struggles and weaknesses. Mary and Jesus showed us that being human is also being God–like. God is even in the things we wish had never been.
I hope you have time to reflect on your own humanity and can embrace and appreciate the humanity of others, especially those who are so different that we sometimes fear them. Let us celebrate the feast of Christmas when God became human like us.
Fr Noel Connolly SSC
director@columban.org.au
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