The Archbishop of Westminster has urged people to "look for the good" in others to counter the impact of a year of bitterness and division.
He urged Catholics to take on a particular task this Christmas and in the days and weeks that follow: to show to others "the way" of finding the goodness of God in every person, in every place. "And we show the way by doing it ourselves."
Speaking in his homily at Christmas Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said: "We are a people who are to look one another in the eye and see there all that is good. We are always to look for the good in the other. Then we are to act according to what we have seen."
The source of the goodness is the Jesus Christ.
"This same goodness is written into every human being. Of course that goodness gets hidden, subverted, corrupted. But it never disappears. It is always to be found.
In this society, after so much bitter political discourse and division, this is what we need: to look each other in the eye and see the good that is there. Only then will our society become a place in which no one is afraid and all sense a welcome. This is the fresh start we need and we, who are the touchstone of God’s presence, the sacrament of the world, are called to show the way."
Cardinal Nichols later tweeted: "Today a Saviour has been born to us; he is Christ the Lord. He is Emmanuel, the one who walks with us, never leaving our side and carrying us home. Come, let us adore him."
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in his Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral this morning, will describe terrorism such as the London Bridge murders of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones as a "monster that lies".
He will compare Canterbury, a city of 50,000 people, to Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he visited in October and which is convulsed by disease including Ebola and by war.
"It has been at the centre of the second worst outbreak of Ebola; about three thousand people have died. Its Anglican bishop is alight with Christ, always present, always giving of himself.
"Darkness is a monster that lies. Its growling claims seem to call out with a louder volume than the love filled whispers of the light.
"We see the shadows out of the corner of our eyes. They may be violence as in the Congo or on London Bridge.
"Whether solid or illusion, they are the reality with which we live, if we believe the dark."
He also tweeted this morning about the Christmas message. "Happy Christmas! May you know the light, life and love of Jesus Christ, today and always. The Christmas story is so familiar, it’s easy to forget it turns the whole world upside down. This is God taking the risk not just of being a vulnerable human baby – but being born in the last place you’d expect to find him."
In addition, Archbishop Welby and Pope Francis issued a joint message to South Sudan's political leaders, along with the Rev John Chalmers, former moderator of the Church of Scotland. Archbishop Welby and Pope Francis are expected to visit South Sudan this year.
"On the occasion of Christmas and the beginning of the New Year, we wish to offer you and the South-Sudanese people the best wishes for peace and prosperity, ensuring our closeness to your efforts for the prompt implementation of the peace agreements. We therefore raise our prayers to Christ the Saviour for a renewed commitment on the path of reconciliation and fraternity and we invoke abundant blessings on each of you and on the whole nation," they said.
Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin spoke of the war and violence that rage on in many parts of the world, from Afghanistan to the Yemen, from Mexico to Syria and Somalia. "Millions of families, including many of our Christian brothers and sisters, are being displaced because of persecution and oppression. Human trafficking and other forms of exploitation remind us that evil continues to profit from the misfortune and misery of our fellow human beings."
Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor said: "We are living in times of profound cultural, sociological, political, legislative and environmental change. Such times of change and transition can generate fear, anxiety, insecurity and despair. Indeed, around us we see signs of a growing polarisation in society, politics and even in the Church, a polarisation that sadly spawns intolerance, insecurity, and indifference.
"In contrast, the luminous guidance of faith provides a source of constancy within the darkness of hopelessness. Across the world, the Christian message of hope continues to resource hope, even in places where historically there were no supportive structures for the practice of faith in society.
"Such prophetic Christian communities can inspire us to seek new paradigms of engagement within society, by the radical exercise of our personal freedom of choosing to live the perennial and unchanging values of the Gospel. Christmas invites us to bear prophetic witness to the ever-new vision of life revealed in the living Word of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ."
Loading ...
