This week-end the people of our nation celebrate “Australia Day”. Our prayer is for a nation that will always respect human dignity and provide all Australians with the resources they need to live with dignity. After all, we believe that every human being has been drawn into the life of God through the incarnation of Jesus Christ and, because of this amazing event, every person has a God-given dignity.

This Sunday we read from the first Chapter of St Luke’s Gospel. Luke describes how Jesus, having returned to his home town, goes to the local synagogue and reads a passage from the prophet Isaiah.

The passage that he reads is, in fact, the ultimate summation of the His ministry on earth. It is about the relief of poverty; seeing the truth; enabling people to live with freedom and liberation from tyranny.

This is what Jesus Christ proclaimed and enacted during His human lifetime this is what the Church must continue to do.
Particularly on this Australia Day weekend we pray that our Nation may be a place where poverty ceases to exist; where honesty abounds; and where human freedom is a reality for everyone.