By now, most of us have taken down the Christmas tree and tucked the decorations back into the attic or the cupboard under the stairs. I hope, though, that your nativity scenes are still in place. In our Catholic tradition, they remain until the Feast of the Presentation on 2nd February.

I never tire of looking at my own crib figures. They’re worn now, a little scuffed by time, yet they still speak so clearly of the wonder contained in that little barn of “Good News.”

When I was a very young Apricot, I played the innkeeper in the school nativity play. I had just one line: “I have no room, but you can go around the corner and use the stable.”

It’s Luke’s small, almost throwaway detail — that there was no room at the inn — which continues to haunt me. The innkeeper’s house was full. That much is obvious, but it’s also a detail that should unsettle our Christian witness and our prayer life.

Is my house full?

Have I truly no room left for anyone else?

We often imagine our families as complete. I have a sister, and my parents are now in God’s eternal company. If I suddenly discovered another sibling, I suspect my first reaction would be, “But my family is already complete — there’s no room for anyone else.” It would be a shock.

Yet this is precisely the challenge God places before us: everyone created by God is part of my family. “Blood is thicker than water,” we say — but God’s own body and blood, woven into my very being, is shared with countless others. As members of God’s family, we have many brothers and sisters.

Now, this Apricot isn’t suggesting we provide board and lodging for the whole world — that would be impossible for most of us (though perhaps easier for those with palaces or presidential mansions). But we can make room in our hearts and in our prayers for those in need.

So, try to…

Make room for your brothers and sisters by supporting charities that care for the vulnerable and the destitute.

Make room for your brothers and sisters by signing petitions and urging your elected officials to uphold the dignity of life from conception to natural death.

Make room for your brothers and sisters by standing against regimes that deny basic human rights.

Make room for your brothers and sisters by supporting organisations working for debt relief in starving and struggling nations.

And make room for your brothers and sisters by praying — for all of these, and for many more besides.