Joe H. forwarded this Christmas reflection from Fr. Richard Rohr.
The mature follower of Jesus will probably look more like a holy fool than a pious churchgoer, an uptight schoolmarm, or a too-obvious “saint.” At Jesus' very birth he is fully identified with poverty, homelessness, immigrants, shepherds who were unclean by Temple criteria, and pagan astrologers from some offbeat Oriental religion! This Cosmic Christ did not come to create or maintain any in-groups or superiority systems, but to live and offer to the world a universal truth. Such a Christmas is indeed worthy of being the central holiday and holy day of the entire year.
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On Christmas eve, the Pope calls for peace even as a Catholic church in Nigeria is bombed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/25/us-christmas-pope-idUSTRE7BN0GG20111225
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Saint Kateri and Saint Marianne Cope