East Lothian Courier, 21 December, 2012-12-25
Christmas Messages.
Pass on the message
of friendship this Christmas.
By Fr Mark Caira,
Abbot at the Sancta Maria Abbey, Nunraw
Advent
in the early Christian tradition was a time of waiting. The first sense of waiting was for the return
of their Lord who had risen from the dead.
The first Christians expected the world to end quite soon. As time went on they naturally began to look
back to the roots of their faith. Their
reflections led them not just to the promise of the messiah contained in the
Hebrew Scriptures but also to the actual physical birth and circumstances of
Christ.
Even
today in the prayer of Christians these two dimensions of waiting are present. Some can be too concerned and unhappy about
the final coming of the Lord. That time
will come some day but probably will be many generations away, whatever the
many dangerous and volatile situations in the world today. In this latter part of Advent, as we get so
much nearer the historical birthday of Jesus we look more to his birth and the
joy it gave his parents and those who were waiting for the One who was promised.
I’m
sure most of us are caught up in the rush to catch the last posting dates for
our Christmas mail and planning how we should prepare for things like our Christmas
meal and other celebrations with family and friends, especially for the
children. That is good and right. We ought to celebrate such a birth and use it
to build up family bonds and friendships.
That, as we know, is not always easy.
Some ruptures in our relationships in the past are not easily
mended. Perhaps being civil with those
we are not happy being with at Christmas can be a beginning to something better
in the near future.
Christmas
is not only a remembering of a past birth or the concern of the final coming of
Christ at the end of time. Remembering a
birth is a celebration of someone who has grown from a baby to something
greater. Christmas can be, and should
be, an awareness of what Christ became.
For us he is now still a living person who knew how to conquer not only
death but to face up to cruel powers that hounded him in his life. He lives now to help us to live for others. That life and that love lies at the heart of
Christmas.
Our
greetings of happiness and joy to others this Christmas can be messages of
friendship which hopefully will lead to better relations with all our
neighbours whatever their social position or beliefs.
A
Happy Christmas to everyone. May peace
and happiness fill your lives in the year that lies ahead.
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