Let this Christmas be a celebration filled with Love: (December 2006)

The City Christmas tree is up; lights are appearing in the towns and villages as we prepare for Christmas. They all point forward to our celebration of Christmas and the holiday that accompanies it.

But, as always, Christmas is for far too many a time of misery and sadness. They don't have the money, the food, or even the possibility of experiencing joy or happiness.

Christmas is a time of giving and the charities are already preparing us for this. Leaflets are being included with journals and papers, or being delivered through our letter-boxes. They tell us of the many ways a small gift can transform the life of an individual or community.

Some folk who don't really need much from their families or friends are asking that the money be spent on some such worthy cause. This is another and welcome part of the great Christmas tradition.

Fr Perry Gildea - Vincentian Fathers

Cliftonville Road, Belfast 15

The Nativity

Archived Reflections....click here

The Society of St Vincent de Paul, through its hampers, toys and many other gifts brings joy and celebration into many homes every Christmas and this too is a living sign of the love Christ asks of us for our neighbour.

...love is the important word here

What we do, what we give, must be inspired by love, not by a guilty conscience, not even by a sense of ‘doing the right thing’. What marks out the Christian approach to Christmas is a love for those who are poor in this world’s goods.

As we decorate our homes, as we plan our Christmas lists and gifts, let us remember we are celebrating the gift of God’s love, ‘who so loved the world, he sent his only son’.

As members of the SVP as we collect, pack, prepare and distribute all those gifts that mean so much to the recipients don’t let us be so busy that we forget why we do all this.

Jesus asked not only to help those who are less well off or poor but to love them. Let this Christmas be a celebration of this love.

Fr Perry (December 2006)