Fr Tristan Writes 21st December 2025
A SAVIOUR IS BORN TO US - CHRIST THE LORD! As Advent draws to a close, we hear how St Joseph welcomed the news of the birth of the Saviour and accepted, with courage and faith, to take Mary for his wife, to look after her and her precious burden. Into his heart, Joseph - Guardian of the Blessed Virgin and Patron of the Church - picks up and carries the mystery of the Word, and ponders its weight. The message he received is also our responsibility - as fathers, mothers, men and women of faith. We have a role to play in the ongoing Christmas story - to rejoice and embody the joy of receiving a Saviour. We naturally feel joy in human things in this season: gathering with family and friends, to be off work for a little. But the truth of "Christmas spirit" is more profound: a deep and awe-inspiring truth we realise when we gather around the Holy Family in the manger. In the stable of Bethlehem, we see the Word become man ('Emmanuel', God-with-us). Thanks to that same event, we are to become like God, in receiving eternal life. God became part of our human family, and we become part of His Son's Body. Jesus' Advent raises our human nature to an incredible dignity, and with it, a great responsibility: to reject the bad that drags us down, and live with sacrificial love, like His Son. St Leo the Great summed up this mystery like this:
"Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice… When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvellous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men? […] Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom. Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ."
May I take this opportunity, along with Deacon Tom, to offer you all our prayers for a very wonderful celebration of the Christmas mysteries here at St John the Evangelist, and a very blessed New Year to you all!
