It is time to celebrate Christmas once more. As always, it comes at the darkest season of the year and we can be tempted to see the darkness as an image of a dark and troubled world. Our efforts to really celebrate the light the new-born Christ brings can be submerged by all the noise and bustle of shopping and preparation. It can be a struggle, in busy lives, to find the peace and quiet we need to remind ourselves of the true meaning of Christmas. With these thoughts in mind, I decided to ask some children in a number of primary schools in different parts of our diocese to write down what Christmas meant to them. No one appreciates Christmas more than children do. We can all understand the great feast we are about to celebrate a little better by looking at it through their eyes. Thomas Merton, the American spiritual writer, says that ‘happiness can be kept only by being given away’ and children can teach us so much about happiness, especially in their wish to be part of a celebration that brings families and friends together. ‘Christmas is not just about shopping’, Nicole in 4th class in Scoil Mhuire gan Smál in Carlow wrote. ‘It is about joy and laughter and it does not matter how many toys you get’. Rebecca, in the same class, said ‘Christmas is not just about presents and gifts. It’s really about the birth of Jesus… it’s a time of sharing and showing love’. Cathal, in St. Conleth’s and St. Mary’s School, Newbridge, associates Christmas with ‘seeing people with happy faces all day’. Another Rebecca in 4th class in Carlow said that ‘Christmas is about … making people happy’. For children, one of the most precious things about Christmas is that, as Hannah, in the same class, put it, ‘it is a time when families get together and tell stories and exchange gifts’. Aidan, in 2nd class in Ballyadams National School, Co. Laois, said that ‘Christmas is great because we can celebrate Jesus’ birthday and spend time with our family’. ‘It is … about caring about our own families and spending time with them’, Aoife in Carlow wrote. Andrew, in 6th class in Newbridge, thinks of Christmas as ‘a time of peace’. In these simple testimonies – about joy and sharing and the unique preciousness of family life - we are reminded of what lies at the heart of Christmas. The human family has true cause to celebrate and rejoice because God, in the child born of Mary in Bethlehem, chose to become a most intimate part of it. This child is the bearer of inextinguishable hope for our fallen and troubled world. Jesus Christ is truly Emmanuel, ‘God with us’. May this Christmas be a time of peace and joy for all of us in Kildare and Leighlin. As a new year unfolds, may we all go forward, full of hope and trust, because ‘the Word was made flesh and He has dwelt among us and we have seen his glory’ (John 1,14). +James Moriarty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Ends December 2003 |