Dear Brothers and Sisters,
When, several years ago, one of my aunties was dying, she said to me, “Don’t forget in whom you have placed your trust.
In 2018 it has been hard to trust. We seem at times to have been let down by some many of the institutions that support us, including our church.
One of the great tasks in life is learning how to trust. A child jumps trustfully into a parents waiting arms. Trust. Our families, our schools, our friends all teach us different aspects to what it means to trust. At times we can be let down, in such times we also learn another essential quality of a life well lived, forgiveness.
Christmas reminds us that all of us are part of God’s great plan. A plan that not sent his only Son into to our world, but to each one of us, we are not alone each of us is a cherished son or daughter of God.
Life can have difficult moments, have unexpected turns which at times causes us to question and ask, in whom can we trust.
Christmas is a time where we see in whom we can place our trust. At Christmas we see in the child born in Bethlehem a God who comes in search of us; a God in whom we can trust, a God who teaches us that trust can be rebuilt.
May Christmas 2018 be a time of great peace, trust and forgiveness, for you and your families and friends. May we rediscover in whom we have placed our trust. God is good, good indeed.
Bishop Pat O’Regan. DD
Bishop of Sale
Christmas 2018