Even her betrothed took some convincing not to put her out of sight (Mt 1:19-25). Months later, and now heavily pregnant, she was forced by unsympathetic authorities to take the road to Bethlehem with her husband (Lk 2:1-6).

Christmas can be very isolating. Think of the teenager with the strange story about how she got pregnant (Lk 1:26-38; Mt 1:18). Amidst all the village gossip, she went off to the hills to stay with an aunt (Lk 1:39-56)

Welcome to our end-of-year Mass for the staff of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. How very sad that we are back to sitting at opposite ends of the pews from each other in masks and unable even to sing an Advent carol!

All creation is hushed. The angel and millions of his heavenly comrades all strain to hear the girl’s response. In their limbo Adam and Eve, the patriarchs and prophets, and all the dead, listen attentively.

The Ode to Joy appears like a burst of sunlight in the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth and last symphony (Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125). His decision to bring soloists and a choir into an orchestral symphony was revolutionary, giving soaring voice to Friedrich Schiller’s poem.

In the 1992 Christmas movie, Home Alone 2, the McCallister family go on holidays to Florida, yet again leaving their youngest son, Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin), alone. Kevin is unperturbed.

You have to admit that grown men and women dressing up in the robes, medallions and eight-pointed crosses of mediaeval knights is rather strange! I say that as someone who wears a mediaeval habit every day and has quite a collection of silly hats… So what’s it all about, apart from the fun of fancy dress?

This idea of framing and structuring our present by looking to the end is an ancient one. The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus prepared himself by long solitudes and frequenting tombs