A Christmas Message from Bishop McGuckian

My dear brothers and sisters,

Each Christmas calls us to pause and reflect on the profound mystery of God’s love. We are reminded that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the herald of Peace, Joy and Hope, was born into the fragility and humility of a manger.

The same God who loved with a human heart remains always with us. In the midst of the human experience of ongoing conflict and vulnerability, the challenge of increasing secularism, and the threat of political and economic insecurity, God will always be with us.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our suffering sisters and brothers across the world in places such as East Africa, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. Closer to home, we were recently reminded of the agonising wait of the families of the Disappeared, who want to give a Christian burial to their loved ones. May God bless the work of all agencies and individuals who hear the cry of God’s children and are taking action to respond throughout the world and here at home to the needs of the vulnerable, the stranger and the lonely.

Christmas reminds us that we have a dignity and value that comes from being created in the image and likeness of God. In a world where this dignity is often threatened, we are called to be guardians of the inherent dignity of every individual. It is the child born at Christmas who grounds and inspires our conviction of the dignity of every child of God. I pay tribute to parents and teachers who pass on the faith to new generations guiding them with the Truth of Christian values and virtues like the wise men who were guided by the Christmas star.

May God bestow his blessing upon all of you this Christmas and into the new year, as you continue to contemplate the face of the Christ-child, the herald of Peace, Joy and Hope.

Nollaig Shona daoibh uilig.

+Alan McGuckian SJ

Bishop of Down and Connor