In his Christmas message, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, reflects on an Advent prayer, that poses the question, ‘May we inherit that great promise in which now we dare to hope.’
The prayer reads; “He assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation…” This profound prayer from the first Advent preface is particularly relevant this year as we dare to hope for Christmas peace and joy in the midst of a very troubled world.
In Bishop Donal McKeown’s message, he tells us about a pilgrimage he made earlier this year to the Holy Land. He writes, “It is very moving to kneel at the site of his birth within the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, reflecting on the precarious circumstances in which the Christ-child was born. Jesus knew the never-ending reality of how conflict, violence and war threaten, endanger and overshadow our beautiful world. Despite – or perhaps because of – our highly developed technologies the world continues to be a precarious place for children to be born.” Bishop McKeown is the Bishop of Derry and Apostolic Administrator of Down and Connor.
Finally, in Bishop Ger Nash’s Christmas message, he also reflects on the ongoing war in the Holy Land and Ukraine, and the life-destroying famine in East Africa, and the impact these tragedies are having on the lives of the children there. He writes; “The terror of hunger, fear or maiming should be far from every child’s life and yet we see it daily in our media. It is right to reflect on these matters as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the baby who was God himself.”
ENDS
