Christmas Day 2014

Thank God Christmas has arrived and we can take a breather  for the next few moments to remind ourselves what the rushing around, and in Whose honour, it is all for.

The darkest day has just passed and little by little we might notice the ‘stretch in the evening’.

Thousands of years ago as you know our pagan Celtic ancestors constructed the amazing edifice that is Newgrange to herald the coming of the light of dawn on the darkest day as they faced East knowing that the light and the course of life came from the East. They were on to something as they turned to the sun.

When all was at its darkest they turned to the light of dawn, knowing that the dark would not have the last say in things.

Thousands of years later, can this be relevant?

In our interior darkest hour, what was it for us this year? A bereavement, a sickness , a problem with no obvious solution, a worry, a concern, loneliness, a sense of quiet desperation, helplessness, isolation, a seeming pointlessness in living drudgery, at wits end, crying out for help?

In my darkest hour God wishes to save me – in the person of His Son Jesus Christ (Jesus means ‘God saves’) and rescue me but we must recognise our need and want to be rescued.

Have I somehow grown out of the magic and sentiment that Christmas was for me growing up?

In my self-sufficiency and dependence have I gone astray from the fact that I am dependent for my very existence on God and have obligations and responsibilities arising from my membership of the human family and God’s family, the Church?

Everything in our society encourages independence and freedom and autonomy, through self-service, take away food, the internet – I rarely have to leave my office cubicle or flat if I work and live alone. And yet there has never been so much isolation.

In a manner analogous to Bethlehem, we must clear out the cold and empty cave of the heart and de-clutter and make room for Christ, even in the dark night, and let the light of Christ enter – we must empty our cluttered hearts and lives and simplify them to make room for the love of the Christ child.

THE GREATEST GIFT GOD MADE WAS GIVING US HIS PRESENCE AND WE LEARN THAT THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS – THE GIFT OF OUR PRESENCE TO OTHERS, especially the homeless and the needy – and it is in giving that we receive. In a word, the more we are conscious of being loved, which comes through prayer – the more we want to share that love. The more we place ourselves before the Real Presence of Christ, the more we live in the ‘present’ and become ‘real’ persons and ‘really present’ to the concerns of others as the present need arises. We see ourselves as we really are – warts and all, but also as loved, cherished and cared for and forgiven through the sacraments.

 The more we are conscious of Christ as our personal Saviour and recognise our ongoing continuous need for Him – yes even amid repeated falls - the more we realise what He wants each person to know how much he loves us and wishes us to save us from sin and ourselves, our shame, guilt and self-loathing, and He wants us – you and me to help spread the joy of love and forgiveness.

So let us return to the light from the East – the star over the crib. When we turn to the light, the shadows are cast behind us.