Another Christmas recedes and folks start to think about New Year resolutions – and how long they last – and while we are still thinking about it the Easter eggs arrive in the shops !

The real significance of Christmas of course is about a child born into poverty. Nobody in authority sought to find suitable accommodation for him. His only welcomers other than Mary and Joseph and a handful of shepherds were three men from a distant country who had previously been in the company of the local ruler Herod. He feigned interest in the new born – rumoured to be a king – and asked them to let him know the child’s whereabouts. His motive was evil and the three men wisely returned from Bethlehem to their homeland via a different route without informing Herod who thereupon ordered the massacre of hundreds of new born babies – just to be sure of eliminating all possible opposition.

Placing ourselves in such a situation might prove painful and embarrassing. Do we react compassionately when confronted by difficult situations ? Are the unborn and the elderly the concern of others ? Or do we leave it to someone else ?

Maybe our resolution should be to accept the challenge of looking out for those who have no choice for their future and to make our feelings known to those in positions of responsibility who have the power of life and death over them.