The message of Christmas is a message of hope but it must be painful
even to hear or speak the word ‘hope’ for people who feel stressed,
disillusioned and possibly on the verge of despair. For people in that
situation hoping for better things must look like wishful thinking.
But we must not despair. We must not give up. We must not cease to hope. We cannot live without hope.
Hope is central to our Christian faith and to our celebration of
Christmas. The message of Christmas is the message of the angels to the
shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for see I am bringing you good news of
great joy for all the people: to you is born this day…a Saviour… and
they shall name him “Emmanuel”, which means, ‘God is with us’”.
“God is with us”. That is the source of our hope. Christian hope is
not a naïve and facile belief that everything will be better next year.
Christian hope is the conviction that God is with us and will give us
the strength and the courage to cope with whatever life throws at us
next year. Christian hope is the conviction that God who raised Jesus
from the dead has the power to bring light from darkness and life from
death and therefore good will triumph in the end.
But we cannot sit back and wait for this to happen. We must play our
part. And God has shown us through the deeds and words of Jesus what we
have to do. Jesus is the true light that enlightens everyone. Jesus
shows us how to be truly human and how to build a more human and
compassionate world. His formula is very simple but very challenging:
love God and prove it by loving your neighbour: love, respect,
compassion, justice, solidarity, mutual assistance are the tools for
building a better world and a better Ireland.
We have all sent Christmas cards with the words “peace of earth” and
“good will to all”. As individuals, families and communities let us all
begin this Christmas to translate these sentiments into actions. If we
do, Ireland will be a brighter place when Christmas comes around next
year.
And let us not forget that as Christians we are people of hope. Let
us speak and act like people of hope. I appeal to adults, especially
parents, to speak to your children and in front of your children as
people of hope and not in negative and pessimistic terms. The greatest
gift you can give your children this Christmas is hope. Help them to be
people of hope.
In this spirit of hope, I wish you all a joyful and blessed Christmas.
Bishop Bill Murphy