A new Church year!
Sunday, 3rd December 2006
First Sunday of Advent

Dear friends,

Welcome to the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. It's a cold, wet morning up here in the Blue Mountains but nobody is complaining. We need the water — our dams are at around 38% capacity at the beginning of what looks is going to be a long, hot summer — and the cold and wet may help control some of the bushfires that have been posing a threat in parts of our State.

Our reflection today comes from Tony Robertson in Brisbane. Tomorrow we will publish the second instalment of Wendy's thought-provoking commentary on mixed marriages. Tomorrow's edition will be published very early in the morning.

Have a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world.

What God will we serve at Christmas? For this first Sunday of Advent 2006 – the beginning of our preparation for Christmas – our resident "Holy Irritant", Tony Robertson, looks forward to ask what God will we serve when Christmas arrives. "As we wait in hope for the coming of God's Reign of Peace, we are called to challenge the values of our consumer culture by being a sign of the true God with Us, the God we know through the person and message of Jesus." [more]

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia