IACK Christmas Message

Christmas Message https://youtu.be/5cAiSYx2yD8

Dear brother Knights,

It very strange in these days of the pandemic to note how many voices around the world are talking about cancelling Christmas as we continue to face up to the effects of the new variants of the coronavirus. I don’t believe that you can cancel Christmas even though I fully understand what they mean.  Maybe we will not have the office parties and large gatherings of friends in restaurants which usually accompany our celebration of the feast but most people throughout the world don’t have those kinds of festivities in the first place.  Our churches will remain open during Christmas and welcome people of all faiths to join in our Christmas Masses and carols. It is worth remembering that it is in the celebration of the Mass that we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus every day of the year not just on 25 December.  Yes, Christmas may be muted but hardly cancelled.

For Christians the joy of Christmas is found in the Eucharist and the crib.  We give thanks to God for the gift of his Son who cries out from the manger to remind us of the continuing plight of the homeless, refugees and those escaping terror.  When we gather as far as restrictions allow us, we remember what it is to be a family no matter how few we are or how distant we are from each other.  The Holy Family was only three people yet proved to be the source of a great love which has overflowed into our lives two millennia later.  May your families have the child Jesus at its centre, it too will be a source of love – a true source of strength for the year ahead.

May the child Jesus bestow his blessings upon you and your families this festive season, and bring you peace in 2022.

The Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon OP Archbishop of Liverpool International Chaplain