Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said faith in Christ leads us “beyond the narrow confines of our self-assertion.”
In his homily at Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Nichols said that in this current age “there is a mood, an insistence, that the most important thing for each of us is to live by the strength of our own convictions.”
“Conflict is in the air, not dialogue; hostility, not willingness to accommodate and talk,” he added.
Christmas, which in the words of Pope Francis is “the feast of faith”, proposes an alternative:
“Yet if we are willing to bend down a little and peep into the crib, then a different pathway opens up. It is, first of all, a pathway of the heart, for that’s what babies do. They change our perspective, bringing us to see things differently,” the Cardinal said.
The birth of Jesus, Cardinal Nichols explained, offers hope to all “without exception, a hope beyond all hope, and a love beyond every limitation.”
He said that the gift of Jesus - and the gift of the Christian faith - offers a different type of truth to “the cold logic” and empirical evidence that our culture demands.
“This is a truth that emerges when our hearts are stirred, not so much in the privacy of an individual experience, but carrying us out of ourselves into the harmony of a whole community,” the Cardinal explained.
The Christian faith is not, he insisted, “a narrowing of the human mind or spirit.”
“For faith in God, present in Jesus, stretches us, enlightens us, and often springs surprises upon us. Such faith, like love, sees that which is invisible and lives by it,” he said.
He concluded by praying that this Christmas may “renew in us the green shoots of hope and generous love, even in the poverty of our lives”.
Speaking to the BBC before the Mass Cardinal Nichols said: "In social media there's a barrage of views and once a statement or claim is made there's immediately a counterclaim, and the mode of exchange is conflict.”
He added that society needs "to get over that notion that faith in God and reason are somehow opposed”.
He also told the BBC that he did not think that faith was to blame for the current unrest in the Middle East.
“Most conflicts are about power and territories and borders and wealth," the cardinal said.
"Often religious identity is in there in the mix but I don't think for the most part it is the key issue,” he added.
The Archbishop of Canterbury reflected in his Christmas day service at Canterbury Cathedral on the deceitfulness of populist leaders and a year of terrorist atrocities.
Justin Welby compared the Holy Family to modern-day refugees. He also contrasted Jesus with "populist leaders that deceive" their people.
He told his congregation: "The nature of those who have power is to seek to hold on to it.
"In 2017 we have seen around the world tyrannical leaders that enslave their peoples, populist leaders that deceive them, corrupt leaders that rob them, even simply democratic, well-intentioned leaders of many parties and countries who are normal, fallible human beings.
"We have experienced across our country terrorism that kills the innocent, claiming that it is the path to freedom in God.
"The nature of God who has all power, and from whom all power comes, is to lay it aside for love's sake and thus without fear, force or manipulation to offer true freedom for every human being."
Loading ...
