As Christmas Day approaches, St. Bernard’s Parish, Little Current, and St. Gabriel Lalemant Parish, Birch Island, wish the whole community of Manitoulin a season of joy and peace.
On that night when the Son of God was born into the world, angels sang a glorious song to shepherds, a song of good news, that God the Creator of all has come to us, as one of us, to lead humanity out of our darkness, and to make all things right. These shepherds were only a small few of the world’s oppressed peoples, seemingly powerless in their poverty and weakness. The good news of Christ’s birth was announced to these weary men, flooding their hearts with hope of God’s peace that had come. Such good news, that entered the world in the birth of a baby!
Today, two millennia into the future, we still celebrate this wondrous coming of God-with-us, not as a distant memory, but as a thanksgiving, of the freedom, peace and justice the birth of this child has delivered, continues to bring forth, and promises to carry to completion. Our remembrance of the birth of Jesus continues to inspire hope within our own hearts, often weary from the sorrows, griefs, and fears of our lives. Don’t we know it? Yet even with the oppressions that wear at us every day, Christmas draws us out from the depths of ourselves, drawing us to the manger, where we may gaze at the newborn child of God, pure love, pure light, with wonder, awe and heartfelt inspiration. The joy of Christmas opens our eyes and our hearts to the sorrows and needs of our human family all around us, those near and those far, here and now, and strengthens our faith and hope that we are not powerless before the darkness. We can do something to stand up and act together as one, yet each in our own way, to bring more love into the world: love that is light in the darkness, love that ends war and hostility, love that feeds the hungry and heals the brokenhearted, love that brings true peace. Christmas joy is the faith and hope that God’s love is for all people across the whole world, and that freedom from fear and injustice is not just a possibility, but the promise of God our loving Creator. May our memories of Christmas past and our celebration of Christmas present evoke warm feelings of God’s love for each of us and inspire our faith in everyone’s innate Goodness as children of God. To each and all, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Father Gerry McDougall, SJ
St. Bernard’s Parish