A Christmas message from the Very Rev’d Niall JW Sloane, Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.
WE live in a world of chaos… Wars, conflicts, greed, hunger, political upheaval. The news and social media feed up constantly with messages of doom and gloom. And then someone reminisces about the ‘good old days’ – it wasn’t that bad in my day!
I’m sure many of you will have looked at the wonderful shop display in the premises formerly occupied by Billy Higgins on Henry Street – in doing so I’m sure there was a certain amount of nostalgia.
We might even shed a tear at how Christmases in the past were so much better. But it seems we humans have an amazing capacity to block out the bad news stories, we constantly will for the good. Afterall, in living memory we have seen in every decade of the last 100 years wars, conflicts, power struggles, famines.
And now in this month of December, we look to the greatest story ever told and right there amidst gold, frankincense, and myrrh is utter chaos. A displaced family, a teenage pregnancy, a selfish king on the warpath, and a birth in the most unlikely of places.
In the story of Christmas, everything is turned upside down … everything is thrown into chaos. There are echoes here of the first days of creation and us wanting God to create order. In the nativity, in the midst of all the upset, all the chaos, it is a new-born child who simply by his birth brings calm, order, and a peace beyond all human understanding. A peace that penetrates every heart that permits it entry. Now more than ever, we need that peace, and I pray that this Christmas you may know that peace and love amidst all the chaos.
The Christmas season is a special time of the year when family and friends gather to celebrate and relax. For those travelling to Limerick this December – you are very welcome to join us in Saint Mary’s Cathedral; Saint Michael’s, Pery Square or Ss John & Ailbe, Abington, for our Christmas services and events.
Finally, to those for whom Christmas is not a particularly joyful time – I hope that you may find peace in that which only the Christ child gives to all of us.
A happy and peaceful Christmas to you and every blessing for 2025.
The Very Rev’d Niall JW Sloane, Dean of Saint Mary’s Cathedral
