Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan, expressed greetings to the people of Waterford and beyond, for Christmas, with his Christmas message: “I hope that wherever you are you know that Jesus is with you now. Then you can have peace. I hope that you have a crib somewhere in your house. It teaches us so much.”
“Peace is something we should not take for granted,” he said.
“Peace, even in our own country is fragile given the dreadful outburst of violence in the Dublin riots a few weeks ago,” he added.
He also referenced violence in other territories: “In many other countries too we see how peace is tragically absent. We are all shocked by the images from the Middle East where men, women and children are starving, wounded, living in fear for their lives and many are being killed. These innocent victims suffer, as did many innocent people in the deadly invasion of Israel by Hamas on October 7. We almost despair as we see no let up in the awful violence.”
He also said people must “not forget the dreadful Russian invasion of Ukraine where the innocent are still being subjected to cruelty and continuing attacks from a foreign force” with many dying on the battlefield.
“The war there has had effects for us too with the arrival to our shores of thousands of refugees,” he said.
In his seasonal message, Bishop Cullinan said: “We are of course also aware of our own acute problems: the shortage of housing, the breakup of families, the homeless people on our streets, loneliness, people not being able to make ends meet, all of which is not helped by social media which can often leave people isolated, vulnerable and influenced by all sorts of harmful content.
“In the face of all of this, Christians might be tempted to give up. But we must not. What must I do then? The answer can only be – to play my part and use what God has given me to become the person he created me to be and to make a difference in the world – to be faithful, kind, honest, helpful, generous, loving, remembering the words of Christ the Lord: ‘When I was hungry, you fed me … when I was a stranger, you welcomed me’ (Matthew 25:35ff).”
“We do not do this alone but join with others – as family, in our parishes, or in organisations such as St. Vincent de Paul, Trocaire, Mary’s Meals, and many others,” said Bishop Cullinan.
“I believe and I know that, behind the scenes and sometimes in obvious ways, in a divine and mysterious way, God is always working,” he added.
“The birth of Christ has made the greatest difference to all human life. His birth changes everything. Jesus Christ tells us our true human story – that we are created by God who is Father, that we have a Mother in Mary, that we are created in the image of God which means that, alone among all creation, only the human person can commune with God, speak with God in prayer.”
Bishop Cullinan went on to comment: “Though we are created good we are wounded by sin and need forgiveness, which only God can give; that we have a destination in life, which is ultimately life with God forever, and which we must not take for granted since we can lose it by rejecting God in our lives. So let us accept him ‘and to all who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:12).
“In union with all people of goodwill let us play our part wherever God has put us,” he said.
“It is easy to curse the darkness but it is better to light a candle. I wish you and yours a peaceful and blessed Christmas.”