I read somewhere recently “when things get tough always remember, faith doesn’t get you around trouble, it gets you through it.” These words are very relevant this Christmas. The storm clouds are gathering. The difficulties are many and the way ahead is uncertain.By any reckoning, it’s shaping up to be a tough time. Faith won’t get us around the trouble ahead but it will get us through it.
This Christmas we need to have this conviction, whatever is ahead we will get through it, and our faith will help.
Our faith in God, our faith in His presence….."the word became flesh and lived among us.” God became man, he became one of us. Every Christmas is a reminder of this amazing reality.
This is the abiding message of Christmas in good times and bad but I think we need to hear it more when times are challenging.
Our humanity and our dignity are not measured by our status or our income. They are underscored by the Incarnation, by the Word of God becoming flesh and living among us.
Christmas calls us out of our individuality and into community. It invites us to belong, to belong to parish, village, family, neighbourhood, and the network of groups and clubs that make up the fabric of life.
These are the things that endure in good times and bad. They are, of course, affected by the state of the economy but they do not depend upon it for their existence.
Christmas always reflects what is going on in our world. It did so for Jesus, Mary and Joseph when they had to flee for their lives. It will do so for us this year too.
So, this Christmas, let us renew our faith in the presence of God in our lives, and in our broken world, and in how this belief can strengthen us in the face of adversity.
This faith, this spirit of hope which is so characteristic of Christmas, will not get us around the trouble ahead, but it will get us through it.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: DF)