Christmas Day
A CHRISTMAS GREETING
“Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened
which the Lord has made known to us” (Lk 2. 15)
I greet you, fellow priests and religious, parents, women, men, girls and boys of this diocese of Down and Connor. I also salute all our fellow Christians and all living within this diocese.
I pray for you all, fellow believers in Jesus Christ, on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Saviour. And I ask you to pray for me on this my first Christmas among you.
With you I recall and celebrate the birth of the Son of God, as Son of Mary.
With you I ponder on the great religious mystery of the Incarnation, the birth of God as man.
United with all of you in the Advent and Christmas liturgies, I listen to those extracts from Sacred Scripture which tell of God’s involvement with humanity culminating in Christ, the Word of God, becoming man.
At the Christmas Day Mass we shall listen to verses from the opening chapter of the Gospel according to John. Once again we shall hear those simple and profound lines:
“The Word was the true light that gives light to everyone” (Jn1.9)
And then we shall hear the text assert:
“To all who did accept him
He gave power to become children of God” (Jn1.12)
This Prologue to St. John’s gospel leads on to the lines that distil the core of our faith in a few crystalline words:
“The Word was made flesh
He lived among us
And we saw his glory,
The glory that is his as the only Son of the Father
Full of grace and truth” (Jn1.14)
And the same Gospel extract will conclude:
“No one has ever seen God;
It is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart
Who has made him known” (Jn1.18)
The New Testament, the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the letters of St. Paul and St. John, present the experience of Jesus of Nazareth’s revelation of the mystery of God, of Divine love for humankind. Reading them, listening to them in liturgical celebrations throughout the year nourishes our faith….
“gives us power to become children of God” (Jn1.12)
Allowing the dynamics of the pages of the Gospels, of the Old and New Testament, to shape our decisions in life, to illuminate our way of dealing with others, with wealth, poverty, deprivation, illness, crises, will enable us to stay on the road to Bethlehem throughout the year and the seasons of life.
May our annual celebration of the birth of God in Jesus of Nazareth renew our desire to encounter Jesus Christ by reading Scripture and celebrating the sacraments.
May the Christmas story reawaken our trust in God’s love for each of us, whatever our personal history or condition.
May our Christmas prayers strengthen our resolve to look after our needy neighbour, particularly in these times of economic crisis.
May the Child of Bethlehem, the Word incarnate, inspire us to perceive the beauty, the dignity of the choice to incarnate, to live out, Christian faith, hope and charity in what we say and what we do each day.
+ Noel Treanor
Bishop of Down and Connor
25 December 2008
Instead of facing the baby in the crib as a human being this Christmas try to face him as the incomprehensible Being that he is: God. Just three squiggles of ink on paper, ‘God’ is a term that symbolizes the mother of all being, if you’ll pardon the expression. It’s a sign and a sound that links us to that Being yet reveals nothing of him. To relate to him personally we need to see a human face. And what easier face to relate to than that of a baby? No challenge there. But listen to our Second Reading (Heb1:1-16): ‘he (the Son, once the baby Jesus) is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word’. Then go back to the First reading of Advent’s first week: ‘O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence’ (Isa 64:1). No sweet baby’s face there. Now the challenge: how to relate to that awesome God? We need to sense God’s power and majesty, and God’s utter strangeness, to feel the gob-smacking wonder of the Baby’s birth. We can’t comprehend a being without a beginning. It’s so far off our mental radar that we rarely think about it. But how can we mature spiritually if we don’t? So let’s test our feelings towards God who can tear open the heavens and make the mountains quake - and then look in utter disbelief at the Child smiling at us from the crib!
Copyright: Fr Tom Cahill (Intercom)
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