Christmas has been a holiday in England for more than a thousand years. This holiday remains the one still-point in our year, bringing together families and communities and calling us to remember those most isolated and vulnerable. A recent national census points to a growing minority who no longer share any religious conviction, while those who declare themselves Christians have become less than half the population. Yet Christmas remains our shared holiday recalling the foundation on which our national life has been built. The Coronation next year, with prayers and ceremonies going back more than a millennium, will also celebrate this foundation amid the many challenges of our time.
Christmas has brought hope to every chapter of our history, especially the darkest. It is not without significance that the celebration of Christmas begins during the hours of night. For hope came into this world during those darkest hours in a child born for us, a saviour given to us who is Christ the Lord. This Christmas does not lack its shadows, with financial and energy crises, industrial strife and continuing war in Europe. Yet, the celebration of Christmas is not dependent on favourable circumstances; its joy is found by those who, like the poor shepherds, are awake and attentive in the silence of the night; and like the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph in their sudden state of destitution, who share a trust which nothing can take away. In Saint John’s words that echo each Christmas, “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” and “We are able to love because He loved us first.[i]
In Shrewsbury, as in every place in our land, we are reminded at Christmas of the foundation on which our country was built, the foundation which has withstood all the crises of time. Whatever the circumstances in which you celebrate this shared holiday, may I wish you a truly happy Christmas and a blessed New Year.
[i] I Jn. 4:16, 19