We live in a hard, harsh world. There's so much destructive anger around. Think of domestic violence, family shootings, murder, rape, scandal, child abuse. Very often people are jockeying for position and promotion. The divorce rate is sky high. Without passing judgment on anyone, this is the reality of much of our lives today. In many ways there's a lot of aggression around. So many of our actions stem from this passion deep down inside ourselves. And when this emerges, all the violence happens. It was the same in Jesus' day. He responded by placing himself in the shoes of other people. The gospel tells us that he had compassion on people. He touched people in the brokenness of their lives. In fact this is the basic truth of the Christian gospel - God became a human being and placed himself not just in our shoes but in our skins. I want to propose this morning that we shift the centre from our hearts to the hearts and lives of others. Instead of lashing out in anger and passion and abuse of whatever kind, lets try today to show a little more tenderness and compassion. Maybe the toughies of this world might feel uncomfortable with words like compassion and tenderness. But come on, lets be real. When you embrace your husband or wife, when you fling your arms around your loved one, whoever that might be, when you look into his or her eyes lovingly, isn't that a moment of tenderness and compassion? When you phone your beloved during the day to say that you love him or her, isn't that a moment of closeness? That's your heart crying out like a child to its mother. Those are intimate and tender moments without an ounce of harshness or ugly aggression. In fact, those are divine moments in the broadest sense of the word. In the depth of those moments God become flesh. We touch the divine intimately. Just a day or two ago someone told me that he had had a couple of days holiday and that he had struggled to convince his former fiancée to allow him to be with their child. He succeeded and what a joy it was. That was a moment of harshness overcome by understanding, tenderness and compassion - however tenuous. So, my prayer today is that you might shift the centre of gravity from your selfish self to the heart of the other; that you might show some love, understanding and compassion to those others who come into your life today, whoever they might be. Remember the compassion of Jesus and lets try imitating His example and bring a bit of light and tenderness to just one other person today. From me, Fr Emil Blaser, God love and bless you. Enjoy this day