Five years ago, Aleppo was a thriving, cosmopolitan place, but everybody has suffered in Syria’s terrible war. The rich have left, the middle classes have become poor, and the poor are miserable. Two months of Russian air strikes twinned with army ground offensives backed by Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces have shored up Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in his western heartland. The situation is desperate in Aleppo. Last month Pope Francis visited the Central African Republic to comfort a nation which is tired of a civil war which has brought nothing but death and destruction. He wanted to remind all who have made themselves richer from the country’s resources of their duty to stand by their country and pay something back through investment in the infrastructure. The list of ongoing conflicts across the nations is enormous. Too much to pray for? Not if we intercede as God leads, in His timing, according to His word in season, during 2016.