Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Message 2012 - Diocese of Derry


A Message for Christmas and the New Year from Monsignor Eamon Martin, Diocesan Administrator

Everyone’s talking about ‘Twitter’ nowadays, but nothing beats the ‘twittering’ in our front garden this winter, every evening at dusk. Like clockwork, about half an hour before sundown, thousands of twittering starlings gather from miles around, wheeling and swooping down in a great aerobatic display. And what a racket their chattering makes! 


Of course the starlings aren’t the only ones coming home to roost these days! The trains and boats and planes are filled with our loved ones coming and going for Christmas. And it’s great to see them! There’s no time like it for families and friends to catch up and renew their love. The door is always open, but even if they cannot be with us in person, we gather them in by ‘Twitter’ and Skype, or by good old-fashioned phone calls, letters and Christmas cards - all in the name of the Holy Family and the Christ-child, our Saviour who came to bring hope, comfort and joy to the world. 


The song of the angels in Bethlehem promised ‘peace to people of goodwill’. I pray that, as our families gather around this Christmas, the peace of Christ shall descend into our hearts, and that same peace shall reach out from our gatherings across the airways to all our loved ones, wherever they are this year. 

I know that for some families Christmas can be a painful time of year - a reminder of bereavement, illness, hurts or separation. I think especially of families who have lost someone they love this year, and of those who are experiencing hardship or no longer have anywhere to call home; I remember those who’ll be spending Christmas time in hospital or in prison. It’s consoling to know that Christ came to bring peace even to the most troubled hearts. 


In this busy world, it is good to pause now and again to allow Christ’s peace to enter in. What better way to do that, than to be with those we love, to remember where we’ve come from, the people at home who first loved us, and the values which shaped us and helped make us who we are! Being at home for a while can bring us back down to earth!


To everyone who has come home this year we say, ‘Welcome back!’ There are plenty more reasons and opportunities to come home again during 2013, with the ‘Year of Culture’ and the Fleadh Cheoil in the city, and all ‘The Gathering’ events that will be taking place around the country. 


2013 is also an important year in our Church – it has been declared as a ‘Year of Faith’, a year to rekindle and renew our friendship with Jesus. 

So I invite you to come home to God and to your Church this Christmas and in the coming year, especially if you’ve become lukewarm in the practice of your faith, or perhaps even drifted away from faith altogether. 

‘The door of faith is always open for us’. 


God bless you and your family over Christmas and in the New Year.