Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (1: 39-45), in which Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. Fr Paul says this gospel reading concentrates on Mary going to care for needs of her elderly relative. With her own baby on the way, she would have had plenty of other priorities, so making her long journey to Elizabeth a real act of kindness. If any theme resounds again and again throughout the Bible, it is God’s care for the poor, the simple and those in need. It is this which sets the Christian tradition apart from the ways of the world. With Mary as our example, Fr Paul invites us to consider, ‘How do we care for those around us, especially at this time of the year?’.