Bishop Paul writes…. Christmas Message 2025
This Christmas I am more aware than ever of the startling and profound reality that I am a Christian not because of anything I have done but because a teenage girl living in occupied Palestine at one of the most dangerous moments in history said yes—yes to God, yes to a wholehearted call she could not possibly understand, yes despite the judgement of society, yes to the considerable risk of pregnancy and childbirth, yes to a vision for herself and her little boy of a mission that in the words of her wonderful prayer, the Magnificat, would bring down rulers and lift up the humble, that would turn away the rich and fill the hungry with good things, that would scatter the proud hearted and raise up the lowly, yes to a life that came with no guarantee of her safety or her son’s. God simply asked her to trust Him and she did. To understand Mary’s humanity and her central role in the story of Jesus is to remind ourselves that the true miracle of Christmas, the true miracle of the Incarnation is the core Christian conviction that God is with us, plain old ordinary us. God is with us in our fears and in our pain, in all our joys and sorrows, in the everyday events of our daily lives. In all these things, God is with us—and God is for us. God is our one, true dependable friend who will never abandon us. This Christmas, as we conclude the Jubilee Year of hope, we reflect on the legacy of faith, hope and practice gifted to us by our parents who in turn received it from their parents. It was something they cherished above everything else, the sense of the presence of God in their daily lives. Last week Pope Leo reminded us that the core message of the Jubilee Year, the one important thing is no one should be lost, all should be saved. This is what God wants, this is His Kingdom, this is the goal of His actions in our world. God does not want us or our children to be among the lost. This Christmas as we reflect on the miracle of the Christ Child amongst us, let us recommit ourselves to honouring the presence of God in our lives, to honouring the hope that He brings through the example of faith, belief and practice gifted to us by our parents, and which we too in our turn witness to our children.
Lord we pray that in our celebration of Christmas we may see with the eyes of children, the wonder of your birth, the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the worship of the Wise Men. Come Lord Jesus, remain with us always.
Mass for the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-elect Paul Connell as Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois at Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, Diocese of Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois.
The principal consecrator for the Mass will be Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, and he will be assisted by co-consecrators Archbishop Francis Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, and by Bishop Tom Deenihan, Bishop of Meath.
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Photo Brian Farrell