My Dear Friends,
A blessed and joyous Christmas to you all!
After almost two years of pandemic quarantine, that message may not seem easy to accept. After so many coronavirus restrictions we feel isolated, and even those who enjoy quiet time alone begin to notice the restrictions’ deleterious effects. Too much isolation unravels the soul.
We are now also forced to roam the streets masked. But the face expresses the soul and first introduces us to others. Masked anonymity reduces personal communications to utilitarian encounters: let me do my business and depart. Such narrowing of vision enervates the human person.
Thereby we get some idea of what life without Christ might be like. In a fallen world, God too would remain anonymous.
That is why we rejoice so much in Christmas. For at Christmas God revealed Himself definitively as the mystery of self-giving love.
But since God is Love, He cannot reveal Himself without demanding a responding commitment from us. Love begets love, and grounds the truth of faith. The Son of God assumed human nature to reform it into the image of God. He taught us that human existence cannot be reduced to a struggle for money, power, pleasure, and prestige. We are created to give ourselves away and find ourselves in Him.
The vocation to self-sacrificial sanctity is not easy in a fallen world, which tells us continually to fulfil ourselves. But Christmas reminds us what is involved. A baby is entrusted to us, beautiful, yet cold, weak, and poor.
Almighty God has become a bundle of flesh in our midst.
Who can refuse to invite that child into his or her heart? Once we open our hearts to Him, we shall never wish to abandon Him. Jesus opens His heart to us lest we close our hearts to Him. Let us receive Him with gratitude and joy this Christmas.
We wish you all a truly blessed and joy filled Christmas
Fr Patrick, Fr Jamie, Fr. John Peter, Fr. Emmanuel, Sr Miriam Fidelis and Deacon Peter.