Our Hearts as Channels of God's Love

Richard Campbell

Merry Christmas to those of you who are faithful readers of this blog, and to those of you who may be visiting for the first time. I was a little surprised when I did the math and realized that between my Lion Lamb and Groundling blogs I will have posted over 500 times in 2019. Apparently there are some benefits to retirement. I hope there is joy in this day for you and in the days ahead. 

As some of you will know, I have mixed feelings about Pope Francis but I do appreciate that he has taken positive and progressive steps in the Roman Catholic church despite strong resistance from those who resist change. 

This year marked his 50th anniversary of ordination as a priest as well as his 83rd birthday. Today thousands listened in St. Peter's Square to what was his seventh "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") Christmas Day address,. He once again upheld the poor and the oppressed and the marginalized around the planet and prayed:

May [God] soften our often stony and self-centred hearts, and make them channels of His love. May He bring His smile, through our poor faces, to all the children of the world: to those who are abandoned and those who suffer violence.

Amen, whatever our Christian perspective may be.