PREPARE OUR HEARTS FOR CHRISTMAS!

Hello everyone
I pray that the infant Jesus would fill you with his joy this Christmas.

The last couple of weeks I have been speaking at Parish missions and in schools. First of all I was in Mullagh in Co. Cavan. It was a truly blessed mission with many people being touched by the love of God. On the final night the Priest said he had more confessions during the week of the mission than he had in the previous 14 years.

After this I travelled down to Tullycross in Connemara for another mission and had the opportunity to speak in the local secondary school. The young people are so open and hungry for the truth of God's plan for their lives and it doesn't matter where you go in the world they are facing the same struggles and the answers are only to be found in God.

Next I travelled to Galway to meet a friend of mine Mike Short who runs a Christian cafe in the town. They do incredible work and it is always an inspiration to visit them. Mike had set up a number of talks in schools all of which where very blessed.

I asked Mike to say a prayer with me and while we were praying he got an image of a high powered electric cable which he thought represented the power of God, then he saw that to handle the powerful cable it had to be held in thick insulating material. This insulation represented the humilty which is absolutely necessary for the power of God to be manifested in our lives, because we can do nothing by just our own strength or wisdom, but we can do everything in him.

So if you sometimes feel weak and broken, that is no obstacle to God using you powerfully, in fact it is probably an advantage. As St Paul says "when I am weak, then I am strong". So when God does work miracles we don't think it is because of us.

Let us prepare our hearts to welcome our God who comes to us in the form of a helpless child this Christmas, so that we would not be afraid to draw near to him. May the prince of peace fill you with his deep peace and heal all the wounds of our lives so that we may bring his light into our world.

God bless you and all those you love,
John Pridmore