Christmas Presence

Any birth, let alone the one that changed human history over two thousand years ago, is a miracle.

The fact that Mary's boy child also survived a king's edict to slaughter all children under two years of age is particularly miraculous.

The late Pope John Paul II reaffirmed that human life is the penultimate gift -

"The inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life."

We need not plumb the holy pages of scripture to find evidence of miracles. Today we see the miracle of life embedded in the daily headlines. In the joyous face of the husband whose wife who lay buried for 72 hours under 60 centimetres of snow.

Or the Windsor woman who police thought had been assaulted - found holding a new-born after having just given birth on the street to twins.

The greatest gift we can give back to God is to defend and promote the precious gift of life. We do this whenever we defend the defenseless - stand up on behalf of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the alienated, the lonely or the unborn.

The best gifts, whether packaged in a cold stable, on a frozen field or on a busy metropolitan street are both priceless and timeless.


Photo Courtesy: Marie Rose Ferron