Prepare a straight path for the children of the world

The International Bureau of Solidarity (BIS), has again prepared this year, the Advent Solidarity Reflection Booklet (click here to download). Since the inception of this annual reflection text many have welcomed it as a trusted and much appreciated resource for prayer.
This year?s text further solidifies the direction our Bureau for International Solidarity initiated last year. When we read the current ?signs of times? with regards to the state of the world?s children, Champagnat?s mission to children offers us much to reflect upon. Many challenges lie ahead of us if we are be to true to that mission.

This year?s UNICEF report, the State of the World?s Children 2005, focuses on the effects that poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS have on children. What is supposed to be a time of promise, namely childhood, is under threat. This Advent we focus again on the need for solidarity with children, especially those children around us who are most in need. Along with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and this most recent UNICEF report which form a back-drop to this year?s publication, the content of this year?s daily prayer includes among other elements, the readings of the day, personal reflections of brothers and lay people from 29 different countries, interesting country information from the State of the World?s Children report, and quotations from Catholic social teaching.
Our hope is that for each of you, brothers and lay people, colleagues and friends, this 2005 Advent Prayer Booklet will help you to become more aware to the plight of the world?s children who call us to be in solidarity with them.