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Last Spring I visited my Mamma while she was staying at my sister’s Bice’s convent in Rome. At that time I had my camera with me but for some reasons I took only one picture while at the convent, and that happened when visiting the chapel near my Mamma’s bedroom I saw the poster with Pope John Paul II’s saying

"Mai più violenza! Mai più guerra! Mai più terrorismo! In nome di Dio ogni religione porti sulla terra Giustizia e Pace, Perdono e Vita, Amore!".

This saying translates into English as

"Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In the name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth justice and peace, forgiveness and life, love!"

We need to hope for a better world and writer Barbara Kingsolver says that

"the very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope."

But with this Free Market we can’t even think for ourselves anymore, and in fact the hope for a better life has degraded to the hope for winning the lottery.

Next year will be the 50th anniversary for my sister Bice to have been with her order of ‘Suore Betlemite di Betancur.’

Today, at Christmas time, let us relearn how the miracle of Nativity along with our hopes and our work can bring peace to the world.