National Chaplains Christmas Message
Christmas is very much about the innocence and purity of belief that somehow evokes, even within the coldest of hearts, a warmth and a glow that transcends the difficulties of present times.
From our earliest days, Christmas has been that time of the year we fondly remember and look forward to. Yet sadly within the glitter, the tinsel and general frippery of the season, the true meaning of Christmas can be lost.
In todays fast-moving fast-paced society, seasons no longer simply come and go, they merge into each other. Today shops gear up for Christmas in September with their “Seasonal stock”, which is the new way of describing Christmas goods, like mince pies, Christmas puddings, and selection boxes. Now well before the Christmas Season is completed, Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns take over those very same shelves in shops and supermarkets.
When I was a small boy there used to be a joke that said “you can tell when it's Christmas because Woolworths have Easter eggs in the window”. This joke has now almost become a reality.
But if you want to hear the true meaning of Christmas, simply ask a small child. They will tell you all about the donkey, the innkeeper, the manger, the star, the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph and even the three Wisemen too. And they will tell you about baby Jesus and the story of his birth and what happened in that famous stable because there was no room in the inn. The purity, excitement and innocence of their narration is that which we sadly lose as we grow older.
And when the notion and simplicity of Santa no longer exists in our hearts and minds, when the excitement, anticipation, and expectation of Christmases long past fades away, then for some, the idea of God being born in the squalor of a stable can become a casualty too. Some may say we simply mature, become wiser, more knowledgeable as we age, and as St. Paul famously said: “when I was a child, I used to talk like a child, see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways”. But when we take CHRIST out of Christmas altogether, then Christmas becomes not a religious festive season but simply a commercial opportunity to sell and make a profit.
But to we Christians, Jesus is far more than a prophet, he is the Son of God. So, my plea to you this Christmas is find the child within, reconnect, re-engage with that excitement, anticipation, and expectation of past years, for deep within that, you will find the true Christmas story.
On Behalf of the Catholic Police Guild may I wish you and your family a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.
Fr. Barry Lomax
National Chaplain & Fellow of the Catholic Police Guild
