{"id":2513,"date":"2016-12-24T11:32:39","date_gmt":"2016-12-24T00:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbridgetsgreythorn.org.au\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2016-12-24T11:32:39","modified_gmt":"2016-12-24T00:32:39","slug":"christmas-message-from-archbishop-denis-hart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/christmas-message-from-archbishop-denis-hart\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Message from Archbishop Denis Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1341\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1341\" style=\"width: 103px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stbridgetsgreythorn.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dennis-Hart-crop.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1341\" src=\"http:\/\/stbridgetsgreythorn.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dennis-Hart-crop-103x300.jpg\" alt=\"Archbishop Denis Hart \" width=\"103\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dennis-Hart-crop-103x300.jpg 103w, http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dennis-Hart-crop.jpg 145w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 103px) 100vw, 103px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Archbishop Denis Hart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>CHRISTMAS is a special time when we remember God\u2019s closeness to us and our responsibility to become peacemakers.\u00a0 In this season of peace and goodwill we see our God, the maker of all things visible and invisible, reduced to the most vulnerable of creatures; another little Middle Eastern boy caught up in homelessness, poverty and a cruel cycle of violence.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, our God gave up everything in order to become one with us.\u00a0 You cannot get closer than that!\u00a0 He comes to us, and stays with us, especially in times of difficulty and loneliness.<\/p>\n<p>We might say that Christmas is the feast of \u201ccloseness\u201d.\u00a0 It is the time when family and friends who are separated \u2013 by geography, by hurt or anger, or simply by the distances created by time \u2013 come together again to celebrate this joyous feast and to renew their bonds with one another and, we hope, with Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas reunions can be wonderful.\u00a0 They can also open old wounds and bring back painful memories.\u00a0 To make Christmas joyful we must be able to forgive one another and let go of past injuries \u2013 real and imagined.<\/p>\n<p>My prayer for you and for all Melburnians, therefore, is that you will feel God\u2019s closeness this Christmas and become instruments of peace in the New Year ahead!\u00a0 Let us keep the lost and abandoned close to our hearts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHRISTMAS is a special time when we remember God\u2019s closeness to us and our responsibility to become peacemakers.\u00a0 In this season of peace and goodwill we see our God, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-messages"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2516,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}