From winter to spring; from nature’s sleeping to nature’s awakening; from the cold and freezing temperatures in which nothing lives, to the warming breeze that calls everything back to life.

From John to Jesus; from the voice crying in the wilderness to the Word made flesh; from the threatening message of punishment to come to the new hope of healing and mercy; from people asking for baptism out of fear, to the people drawing from all over the country out of awe. All around us are signs of winter: indifference, doubt, unbelief…. Yet, Pope John Paul II, at the approaching year 2000, prophesied a New Springtime.

I am eagerly waiting for the day when we would say: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). It will be a time when nothing would quench the thirst for the Word of God; a time when we will speak to God and about God, at least as much as we speak about politics and football; a time when our isolation and loneliness would be overcome by communion and a caring small community of faith!

Fr Paul Fenech