Christmas Message 2011
Bishop Denis Brennan
Ferns
The Gift that keeps on Giving
Somebody once said that the birth of a baby is God’s opinion that life should continue. If that can be said of the birth of every child, how much more can it be said of the birth of the Christ-child?
In that event, God has spoken and the message is that life should continue. This is what we celebrate in these days of Christmas.
Christmas is not a tidy time, things intrude, memories come unbidden, sometimes unwanted.
We are not always in control. And yet again and again, we are seduced by the spirit of the season.
Christmas speaks to the child that we once were, that is why we are touched by it; that is why we are drawn to it and by it.
Perhaps the child in us is buried deep, covered by the baggage of adult life, the dreams that did not materialize, the hopes that were either dashed or remain unfulfilled, the promises not kept, the hurts suffered or inflicted.
At Christmas time we give gifts, the reason being to remind each other of God’s great gift of love, echoing through the centuries – “For behold I proclaim to you news of great joy.”
Today we celebrate the most enduring gift of all – a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manager, Jesus Christ – the gift that keeps on giving, the mystery that still unfolds.
Jesus Christ is the gift we can keep unwrapping – not just today, but throughout our lifetimes.
He is the grace of God among us, the light that shines in our darkness.
He is with us as we battle an addiction, as we worry about the future, as we grieve for a loved one, as we try to navigate our way through these difficult and uncertain times.
The Holy Father recently visited his homeland, Germany. The theme he chose for his visit was, “Where God is, there is a future.”
This surely is the message of Christmas. This is why Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving, not just today but into the future.
This is a message we need to hear in these uncertain days – where God is, there is a future.
This is what the incarnation is all about, the Word becoming flesh and living among us, in the words of St Matthew, “He will be called Emmanuel, a name which means God is with us.”
So today, as we exchange our gifts, let us remember that there is one gift that we will always be able to continue to unwrap, the gift of God’s love in the person of Jesus, our brother and our Lord.
I wish all the people of our diocese a blessed Christmas and a New Year that will not be without hope.