VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, We are not too far from Christmas. While this may seem like good news to most, to many Christmas is a time when their already-stretched budgets are expanded to the point where they crack. Their children may be asking for presents they cannot afford. Their partner may be discussing how a relative is having turkey and ham when they can barely afford a chicken. Those in debt seem alive but in fact their days are so burdensome they do not actually live them.

While I wish You all a wonderful week ahead and a peaceful Sunday, I do ask You to remember the less well-off this Christmas and those who are struggling with debts.

We are all one human family. We should all be as Christian as we can be to those who owe. How we treat them is key to showing our own humanity. Let us feel for them.

Father, we pray for the many who are trapped by growing burdens of debt,

who see no way out, and who despair for their future:

give them courage to tackle the problems they face,

clarity in taking decisions which will turn their situation around,

and faith that, as they cry to you in their trouble,

you will deliver them from their distress;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.