The Old Testament has a lot to teach us when it comes to showing us how to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. The Prophets painted pictures of how things would be once people turned to God with all their hearts and minds. There was always the promise of prosperity and peace.

For us as adults we may look back to Christmases when we were children and we recall the joy of family gatherings and if lucky there was the sharing of gifts. There was also the hope that this feeling would last forever. Time and life has changed that feeling into something that fits into our present circumstances.

Our daily lives are a history of joy, sorrow, peace, success and failure. But unlike the people of the Old Testament we live in a time when Christ lives among us. We have the capacity to let him enter our hearts and minds. We are fortunate that each Christmas is a new beginning and a new dedication of our lives to the one who has come among us.

We are the prophets for the future. The children today look to us to teach them about Christ but unless we feel the importance of Christ in our own lives how can we tell others?

Find a place that is quiet and comfortable for a few moments and speak to Christ in your mind. Visualise you and he together discussing your successes and failures. Trust him with your most secret thoughts and ambitions. Make him part of your daily life. He is interested in your failures as well as your successes.

Fr.Phil