Dear fellow traveller,
Each year at this time we celebrate the most significant birth in the history of the world. God freely chose to walk among us as a friend. It was, and is, an offer of friendship to the whole human race and for all time. The Son of God came in search of you and me with an offer of unconditional love. He came in answer to every prayer, every cry for help, every request for forgiveness, every search for meaning and a reason to hope. His name is Jesus, born in Bethlehem, truly God, truly human, the Son of God, the Son of Mary.
God's search for us can never be one sided, like a prospector searching for gold or a miner for the ore. The Son of God does not want silver and gold. What he wants is you and me, our hearts, our love, our friendship. He wants to feed us with good things. He want to shower us with treasures that will last forever. He wants us to live forever in his company. He wants our response.
We are all on a journey to God's home. As for all the characters in the Christmas story our journeys follows different paths, but they all converge on the one sacred place where the Son of God is waiting to greet us.
I wish you every blessing this Christmas.
Yours in Our Lord.
+ Christopher H. Toohey
Bishop of Wilcannia-Forbes