CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM FRS. PADDY, MICHAEL AND BILLY
Dear friends. In his Christmas message, Bishop Ger focuses on the importance of Christian hope that is born again with Christ and that we carry with us into another year. It is this hope that we rejoice in sharing with you at Christmas – the hope without which we cannot live. This is not optimism or a naïve hope that nothing negative or bad will happen. After all, plenty of bad things happened to Christ himself. Rather it is the assurance that if and when bad things happen, we will not face them alone but with the presence and power of Christ who walked out of the tomb. Here is the greatest power in the world that we have access to by faith. This Christmas, we extend that hope to our troubled world but also to ourselves – that we might welcome Christ into our lives in a way that changes us. In the words of the late Pope Benedict XVI: “Only if people change will the world change; and in order to change, people need the light that comes from God, the light which so unexpectedly entered into our night” (25th December 2008). We take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and invite all of you to celebrate Christmas with us in our beautiful twin Churches at the times advertised in the newsletter. Our thanks go to our sacristans, cleaners and all who have decorated our Churches to showcase their beauty and glory directed to God. With every peace, blessing and hope to you and your loved ones. Frs. Paddy, Michael and Billy