The media has  revealed that Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott’s sister, Christine Forster, is living in a homosexual relationship with another woman.

Hoping, perhaps, that this disclosure might cause Mr Abbott to reverse his opposition to homosexual “marriage”?

No such luck.

Mr Abbott responded graciously, affirming that, (i) he and his sister are on good terms and (ii) that they differ about this supremely important subject and (iii) he will not break his pre-election commitment to retain the normal definition of marriage as party policy.

* * *

We haven’t been told why C. Forster isn’t looking after her four children.

Not our business, you say?

But it is our business. The lady has chosen to thrust her lifestyle in our faces – making it a legitimate topic for public scrutiny.

* * *

Our cultural heritage makes it impossible to condone her lifestyle.

Our civilisation is founded on the teaching that, “At the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’”

Words of Jesus Christ.

They are quite unambiguous.

By Thy blood that flowed from Thee in Thy bitter agony;

By the scourge so meekly borne; by the purple robe of scorn,

Jesus Saviour hear our cry, Thou hast suffered just as we;

Hear the loving litany we Thy children sing to Thee.

By the thorns that crowned thy head; by Thy sceptre of a reed;

By Thy foot-step faint and slow, weighed beneath Thy cross of woe;

By the nails and pointed spear; by Thy people’s cruel jeer;

By Thy dying prayer which rose, begging mercy for Thy foes;

By the darkness black as night, blotting out the sun from sight;

By the cry with which in death, Thou didst yield Thy parting breath,

By Thy weeping Mother’s woe; by the sword that pierced her through,

When, in anguish, standing by, on the cross she saw Thee die.

. . . adapted from the writings of Irish novelist, Cecilia Mary Caddell.

The Christian era of history started at the moment of the conception of Jesus Christ (celebrated usually on March 25 the “Feast of the Annunciation”).

The Bible describes the angel visiting the Blessed Virgin, announcing to her what was happening:

“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man named Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

“The angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

“She was troubled, thinking within herself what manner of salutation this should be.

“And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.”

(St Luke’s Gospel, chapter 1)

* * *

That greeting of the angel has been used ever since by Christians as a prayer, usually worded as follows:

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen”

* * *

Mother of God?

A belief not compatible with any other belief system.

Not negotiable for Catholics.

“Dialogue” with other faiths is not really a possibility.

Christianity is a religion to which the purpose of converting others is central.

In Pakistan, it is forbidden to write the name Jesus Christ in SMS text messages (according to Fides newsagency).

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has ordered mobile phone providers to block text messages containing any of about 1600 forbidden words.

Mostly vulgar and objectionable words – obscenities of a sexual nature etc. — the banning of which is arguably not a bad idea.

But is the name of Christ objectionable?

Only if you consider it objectionable to share with others the beautiful gospel of Christ  and the matchless moral principles which he taught.

* * *

The Telecommunications Authority excused its action by saying that the freedom of Pakistanis is “subject to the limitations provided by the law in the interests of the glory of Islam”

But this action will bring, not glory, but shame and contempt  upon Islam.

Usually bizarre acts of persecution are the result of fear.

What are they afraid of?

It is amazing that there is such a thing as Christmas.

The One whose birth is commemorated seems such an unlikely person to have dominated human history — and to have done so for so long.

This Jesus had no army.

He had no friends in high places.

At his death, the number willing to stand by him could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Yet now, 2011 years later, 2.1 billion — one third of all human beings — follow him at least nominally. (Pew Research, 2010 *)

Yes, that is amazing.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

Let us ask God to grant us each a happy and holy Christmas.

And to enable us in New Year 2012 to live faithfully by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

( * www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-exec.aspx)

Journalist, Dylan Welch, (The Age, October 12, 2011) quoted an ASIO report suggesting that Australia harbours “a persistent but small sub-culture of racist and nationalist extremists”.

He went on to talk about Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, being “a Christian who described himself as a ‘modern-day crusader’”.

In his manifesto, “2083 — A European Declaration of Independence”, Brievik did write:

“Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian . . . Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man.”

But Christianity (as taught by Christ himself) says that the first Commandment is to love God with all one’s heart and soul.

To be a Christian, one’s every political idea and act must be motivated by that relationship.

This key point was missed by Anders Breivik (and, perhaps, by Dylan Welch).