Bishop Bosco’s Christmas Message gives us ‘Real Hope’

Bishop Bosco MacDonald has recorded a special Christmas message for this Holy Season.

In his message, he tells us that the heart of Christmas is a simple scene: Mary and Joseph, the child, the manger. No triumphal entrance, no grand stage. God chooses closeness. God chooses to come within reach.

He continues to tell us that Christmas can feel very different from one person to the next. For some, it is pure joy: family, food, carol singing, full churches, familiar traditions that warm the heart. For others, it is a harder season: a grief that has not softened, relationships under strain, worries about money, anxiety about the world, a loneliness that feels sharper when everyone else seems to be celebrating.

Full text:

Every year, the Christmas tree makes its appearance in our homes and churches and public spaces. Lights are untangled, familiar decorations are brought down from cupboards. And it does something rather gentle to the atmosphere…. a room begins to look and feel different. It is a simple ritual, almost stubbornly traditional, and yet it carries a truth: when light is welcomed, even ordinary spaces are changed.

That is how Christmas comes. The world can be loud, but the coming of the Lord is gentle.

At the heart of Christmas is a simple scene: Mary and Joseph, the child, the manger. No triumphal entrance, no grand stage. God chooses closeness. God chooses to come within reach.

And this matters, because Christmas can feel very different from one person to the next. For some, it is pure joy: family, food, carol singing, full churches, familiar traditions that warm the heart. For others, it is a harder season: a grief that has not softened, relationships under strain, worries about money, anxiety about the world, a loneliness that feels sharper when everyone else seems to be celebrating.

If this Christmas is a difficult one for you, please hear this clearly: you are not on the edge of the story. You are close to its centre. The first Christmas carried its share of uncertainty and worry. God did not wait for life to become easier. He came into real life as it is.

St Leo the Great, preaching at Christmas, once said: “Christian, remember your dignity.” This is not just a passing reassurance. It is a claim at the heart of the faith. If God has chosen to be born among us, then every human life has weight and worth, from the womb to natural death, from the strong to the frail, from the confident to the fearful. A child in a manger is God’s answer to every attempt to treat people as disposable.

And there is hope here, real hope. The Church has lived this Jubilee Year of Hope, and Christmas shows what hope looks like. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is a person. Hope has a face. Hope is Jesus Christ, present in the Church, close to every home, faithful even when faith feels thin.

St Athanasius, one of the great voices of the early Church, put it in a single line that can still stop you in your tracks: He said: “For He was made man that we might be made God.” God draws near so that our humanity can be healed, strengthened, and lifted. Christmas is not simply a remembrance of something long ago. It is God’s promise for today.

So what might Christmas ask of us in practice, across our diocese?

For some, it will be the simple step of coming to Holy Mass, perhaps after a long interval. The doors of the church stand open, and you will be received with warmth and respect.

For others, it will be the choice to make room for prayer, however brief. Perhaps before the crib, at the bedside, or during a quiet walk: “Lord, remain close to us.”

For many, it will be expressed in works of charity carried out with discretion and care: a call to someone who will hear few voices today, a kindness done without display, a reconciliation gently begun, a patience deliberately practised within the family. Some of the deepest fruits of Christmas are small and hidden, yet they do more than we imagine to renew the world. And Jesus is with us, at our side.

As this Jubilee Year of Hope draws to its close, I am especially mindful of the many people who serve faithfully across our Diocese of Clifton: our priests and deacons, our religious communities, our school staff and governors, parish volunteers, musicians, catechists, carers, and all who keep the life of faith moving forward with steady love. Thank you.

Christmas does not promise a life without trouble. It promises a life with God. Emmanuel, God with us.

May the Child of Bethlehem bring peace to your home and strength to your heart.

May Mary, Mother of God, and St Joseph, guardian of the Redeemer, watch over your family.

I wish you a happy Christmas, and may God bless you.

+Bosco, Bishop of Clifton