Zephaniah 3:14

Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! Does anyone really know what this holiday is all about? It means different things to different people. For students and teachers, it is a welcome break from the academic grind. For merchants, it is a season that makes or breaks the fiscal year. For children, it is the joy of receiving gifts. For the gourmet cook it is the pleasure of holiday feasts and fine wine. For tourists, it is the season of sun-and-sand, mountain slopes, and snow. For football teams, it is the beginning of “bowl time”. For basketball lovers, it is the time of the “holiday tournaments.” For business people, it is the day before post Christmas conferences. For you, Christmas may mean one or some or all of the above or none of the above. As we survey the frantic scene can one help but wonder what it is all about? Does anybody really know what this holiday is about?

This Sunday, the third of Advent, is called “Joyful Sunday.” Why? Because Christmas reminds us that we should be happy and joyful. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the bearer of good news for all mankind. He has already come, but Christmas renews the joy of His coming in our hearts, and in our minds. We celebrate the joy of Jesus’ coming when we reach our to help one another with a smile on our face, and a song in our hearts. Once you posses the good news of the Gospel in your heart, you cannot keep it to yourself, or hide it. You have to share it; to let it sally forth into the world like a piercing light amidst the darkness.

There are so many ways you can share the good news. You can give of yourself to your brother or sister who is in need: your spouse, perhaps, who is in need of forgiveness; your son or daughter, perhaps, who is in need of encouragement; a neighbor, perhaps, that is in need of companionship; a friend, perhaps, who is in need of your counsel and advice, or your money; a charity, perhaps, that is in need of your time; an undesirable person, perhaps, who is in need of your love.

We are one family, brothers and sisters of the one father (Hebrews 2:11). We hear these words, and speak them over and over again. But they will not begin to sound like joyful news unless we live them. Open up your mind and heart to the joyful news of Christ’s loving presence in your midst, and you will have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas,

Fr Hugh Duffy