These are the days when many people are looking for a Christmas message of hope, of reassurance, of resilience. The past ten months has shaken us to our foundation. It has rattled our economy, our parishes, our lives. And we are told that the immediate days and weeks ahead around Christmas/New Year are crucial if we want to take control of this pandemic. There can be no letting down of our guard, there can be no lessening of the standard we have lived by over the past ten months. A Christmas like it has always been will undo the great sacrifices and work of the past ten months.
Outside churches across Kildare and Leighlin you will notice a Christmas banner. Together the 56 parishes of our diocesan family are sharing the central message of Christmas – a message that speaks to us this year in a very particular way. As we come to the end of 2020 and prepare to enter 2021 may we know in the deepest recesses of our being the enduring truth of our faith – the faith we proclaim every Christmas, the faith announced in those banners across our parishes this Christmas – that God is With Us. May we experience His closeness this year more than ever. While we can’t embrace, know that He holds us. While our mask hides our face, know that He sees our smiles. And while we keep our social distance, know that He is never distant from us, He is walking by our side. He is always with us.
ENDS
For media contact: Catholic Communications Office Maynooth: Martin Long +353 (0) 86 172 7678
