JOINT CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FOR 2024
FROM
BISHOP LARRY DUFFY,
ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CLOGHER
AND
THE RIGHT REV DR IAN ELLIS,
CHURCH OF IRELAND BISHOP OF CLOGHER
Hope does not disappoint – the newborn Jesus is the source of our hope.
In these days as we approach Christmas, the readings from Scripture heighten our expectations of the coming of the Messiah. The music too, calls us to rejoice and look forward in hope. The hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel urges us to ‘Rejoice, Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel’.
It is very easy to say that we hope. It is a form of communication we use in everyday reality. We hope for a change in the weather, we hope that there will be no conflict in our world, we hope that someone gets better from an illness. Even in the mundane tasks we hope – like hoping to get to our destination on time or in the desired outcome that our team wins a game or that a party or candidate wins an election. But what is this hope? Is it more than just a wish, an expectation or even a desire with no certainty of fulfilment?
For us as Christians, we are called to a hope that is different. Christian hope involves faith in the power and love of Jesus, an unwavering trust in an unchanging God who is love (cf 1 John 4:7). As Christians, filled with the love of God, we are called to be a people of hope in all that we do and say. That hope expresses itself not in temporal or passing things but in the things that last, those that give us true joy.
The coming of Jesus at Christmas is a cause of joy and hope for our world today, just as it was over two thousand years ago. God becomes one of us and shares in our joy and our suffering. Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection gives us a hope and a peace that the world can never give. If we look elsewhere, we will come up short.
The newborn Jesus is the source of our hope. Throughout his ministry he gave hope to those who came to him for healing, he gave sight to the blind, brought forgiveness of sin and led people from darkness into light. Jesus still sustains that same hope in our daily lives. This hope does not disappoint. Instead, it is ‘an anchor for our soul, as sure as it is firm’ (Hebrews 6:19). Let us express it in making our world a better place.
This Christmas, and in the Jubilee Year of Hope which Pope Francis has declared for 2025, may all Christians be signs of hope so that ‘with their respective charisms and ministries, [we] are co-responsible for ensuring that manifold signs of hope bear witness to God’s presence in the world.’[1] Let us all fix our gaze on Jesus our hope, who came among us as one of us. As a pilgrim people of hope, may the joy of the Gospel enliven us to proclaim in our lives that hope does not disappoint.
Wishing everyone a blessed, holy and peaceful Christmas, filled with the hope and joy that comes from Jesus Christ our Saviour.
+ Larry Duffy + Ian Ellis
Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher
17 December 2024.
[1] Pope Francis, Spes non Confundit, no. 17 Spes non confundit – Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 (9 May 2024) | Francis
