2023 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN OF SAINT MARY’S CATHEDRAL
The Christmas story is full of drama and excitement - a displaced family, a wicked king, mystics from the east… but it is also a story of hope and love.
The arrival of the Christ-child to a broken and hurting world offers us true hope and real transformation. He came as ‘Emmanuel’ - God with us and for us - whoever we are, wherever we are from, however much faith we think we possess.
Sadly, we often let the Christmas story pass us by – we’ve heard it all before.
However, what the story tells us, year after year, is that God’s love persists at breaking through again and again and again.
Wherever and however you find yourself this Christmas, perhaps the ultimate call and joy of the Christmas story is not to be passive listeners. Don’t just stand outside this story, or look at it from a distance, but - like the shepherds and the wise men - enter into it.
It’s my hope and prayer that as you do this, however tentatively, you will find a God who loves you and inspires you to be a world changer!
The Christmas season is a special time of the year when family and friends gather to celebrate and relax. For those travelling to Limerick this December - you are very welcome to join us in Saint Mary’s Cathedral; Saint Michael’s, Pery Square or Ss John & Ailbe, Abington for our Christmas services and events.
Finally, to those for whom Christmas is not a particularly joyful time - I hope that you may find peace in that which only the Christ child gives to all of us.
A happy and peaceful Christmas to you and every blessing for 2024.
The Very Rev’d Niall J.W. Sloane,
Dean of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick