It's almost Christmas again

So Season's Greetings to everybody. I am in Malta at present, just coming to the end of two weeks of Visitation. Like other Capuchin provinces of Western Europe,
Malta is experiencing a downturn in vocations which, together with the ageing process, is causing them to review their ministerial commitments - which is always a painful process.
This morning I went to visit an open centre for refugees a few miles outside Valetta. It was set up by a Capuchin friar, the late Br. Crispin Tabone, who with sound Capuchin judgment saw the growing problem of refugees in Malta and decided to do something about it. He got an old trade school from the Government and it now houses 700 men, almost all of them from sub-Saharan ?Africa. We got a guided tour from the Manager, Ahmed, himself an Evangelical Pastor. As well as sleeping accommodation, it has three restaurants - Somalian, Sudanese, Eritrean - run by the men themselves, with shops, games centre, training centre (for IT and English classes) and a football pitch. Great work. At weekends, the number swells to about 1,500.
The year has been a busy one, with visitations, meetings with the conferences, definitory meetings, commission metings etc. To all I met during the year, and to all who read the Capuchin blogs: Happy Christmas and blessings for 2010. Nollaig shona dibh!