A Seasonal Message for Christmas 2015

It is hard to believe that the end of another year draws near. The Church is in the season of Advent but the commercial world is fully focused on Christmas. Inevitably we too are drawn out of Advent and into the Christmas spirit. Curiously, we expend so much energy in the run-up to Christmas – shopping, attending Christmas parties and Carol Services – that we have exhausted our Christmas enthusiasm by the time the Christmas dinner is settling in our tummies on December 25. Yet strictly speaking that is when Christmas is only beginning and there is a whole 12 days to go, if we could but summon the enthusiasm for it!

It has been a difficult year. 2015 will be remembered for the enormous refugee crisis that has arrived at Europe’s border. This humanitarian crisis is a huge issue that will remain with us into the years to come. Our head says one thing, our heart another. Yet the Christmas message challenges us to be generous. Jesus Christ was born far from home in bad circumstances. As a baby, he and Mary and Joseph fled as refugees to another land in fear of their lives. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Ireland in 2015 had its own problems too. The homeless crisis was never far from the headline. The deaths of a whole Traveller Family in a fire at Carrickmines made us reflect on how we treat the most vulnerable in our society.

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Peace on earth and good will to men (and women!) is at the heart of the Christmas story. The threat of international terrorism and the horror of the recent events in Paris make us realise that the Christian story of the coming of the Son of God into our world to bring peace and reconciliation can seem trite to those who have lost their loved ones and who live their lives in fear.

It is not sufficient to tell our Christmas story in a sentimental superficial way. The story must be told truthfully and placed in the context of a world that seems so often to be teetering on the brink of disaster. Into that darkness it is our responsibility to put light.

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

May I wish you all a holy Advent, a happy Christmas and a bright New Year!

Fr. Ultan McGoohan

Chair of the Board of Management of the Kilmore Diocesan Pastoral Centre