West Derwentside Catholic Partnership

Throughout the Old Testament God promises to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to Gideon, to Samuel and many more, “I will be with you” and then he presents us with His greatest gift, He comes to live among us so He will always be with us ‘until the end of time’. So no matter what we may be trying to do to make this Christmas special, it will be nothing compared to what God has already done. We are not alone; our Lord is with each of us, we need not be afraid but we must be sure to remove any obstacle that keeps us from Him.  Despite the numerous images of Santa Claus all around, Christmas is God’s work which came to pass because Mary said, “Yes”. Mary is the great model of faith. She did not try to figure it all out she just got on with what she was asked to do, despite the risks to her reputation and to her safety. She trusted God and so she accepted the unexpected even though it did not make any sense at times, and thus she brought up a son who is as much a mystery to her as any child can be. Mary shows us that in answer to prayer God comes to us disguised as our life. We need to follow her lead and give birth to Christ in our hearts this Christmas.