Merry Christmas!

Uploaded on September 11, 2007 by hickory hardscrabble licensed under Creative Commons

Merry Christmas everyone! I love the sights and sounds and smells of Christmas, the lights, the carols, the scent of cinnamon and pine. I love the companionship of family and friends in the celebration of this joyous season.

It has become somewhat of a personal tradition to read the Papal Peace Message every Christmas. This year, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI chose to reflect on Fighting Poverty To Build Peace.

In this year's message the Holy Father addresses marginalization, moral and spiritual poverty, pandemic diseases, child poverty, disarmament and development, the current food crisis, global solidarity and the sense of human family, an ethical approach to economics, and justice. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that all poverty "has at its root a lack of respect for the transcendent dignity of the human person". He urges us to recognize that "we all share in a single divine plan: we are called to form one family in which all - individuals, peoples and nations - model their behaviour according to the principles of fraternity and responsibility".

May you have a joyous and peaceful Christmas and may we all help to realize the vision of a united human family filled with respect for the inherent value and station of all people. Merry Christmas!

Full text of "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace" by Pope Benedict XVI here