Fr. Shay Cullen » What Is Christmas for You and the World?

By Fr. Shay Cullen

It is now December. Our minds and hearts ought to be turning towards the celebration of birth Jesus of Nazareth, that is if we are steadfast in resisting the distractions and temptations thrown at us by the commercial traders, they have made of this great feast a materialistic perversion. Christmas is irrelevant to many; it is no longer associated with Jesus the Christ, the messiah, the one who came to save the world form destroying itself. Christmas has to be saved and restored to its true meaning.

We need to make Christmas a time for reflection and action for good. We need to relearn its meaning and see beyond the twinkling lights drunken parties and meaningless revelry. We have to see beyond the pious religious rites and rituals to the heart of what Christmas is. We need to cut to the essentials of life and be aware that the world has never had so much wealth, power and ability to solve the global problems of humankind. They are man made problems: hungers, diseases, disasters, wars, and all the suffering that flows from such conflicts. Much of it because of the primitive baser, urges of individuals and groups, greed and selfishness, vice and depravity of the spirit. Never has the world needed salvation as it does now Christmas is about changing from uncaring attitudes to help others in need without asking for payment.

The uncaring and irresponsible rich and powerful are driven by these ambitions to retain and extend their wealth, power and control of sources of minerals, raw materials and people. Their wealth and vested interests control governments, armies and mercenaries to achieve their goals.

Human suffering is not an accident , it s the result of the few, the oligarchy , dominating the many by manipulating political power for their own ends and disguise their motives as in national interest and national security. Most people in the world, including the poor, (despite all the media) are ignorant of the causes of poverty and world hunger. It is not the lack of resources and food and wealth but the inequality in their distribution and caused it.

The disasters of man-made climate change affect the poor. Their needs are ever greater, poverty worse and the need for land, water and basic resources bring violence. Conflict and war is the inevitable outcome and with them come millions of refugees, hunger, death and suffering.