Christmas can never be cancelled even in the most unfavourable of conditions, the Bishop of Shrewsbury said in his Christmas homily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During midnight Mass at Shrewsbury Cathedral, the Rt Rev. Mark Davies acknowledged that it is \u201ceasy to focus on the dark shadows\u201d of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he reminded the congregation that Christmas leads the faithful back to the \u201cpoint of light\u201d that shines in all our darkness, the child born for us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChristmas can never be cancelled,\u201d Bishop Davies said, \u201cfor its light is not dependent on favourable conditions for even the darkness makes its light shine the more brightly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the coronavirus pandemic, the Bishop also lamented attempts over the passing year to extend abortion and the renewed efforts to legalise assisted suicide as assaults upon the sanctity of human life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He reminded the faithful that the modern nursing and medical profession was inspired by Christian belief in the value and inviolability of innocent human life and for the care of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dedicated service and self-sacrifice shown by medical professionals in helping the victims of Covid-19 stood in a stark contrast to the \u201cculture of death and despair,\u201d the Bishop said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He encouraged people either attending the Christmas Mass in person or viewing by live-stream to heed the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, of December 8, and to share with St Joseph the responsibility for \u201cevery poor, needy, suffering or dying person, every stranger, every prisoner, every infirm person\u201d in whom the Child Jesus can be recognised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also echoing the hopes of Pope Francis, the Bishop said that \u201ca new vision of fraternity and social friendship\u201d which recognises how all the lives of all people are bound together is the antidote to \u201cpresent-day attempts to eliminate or ignore others\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is surely a happy lesson to be drawn from the trauma of the past year,\u201d the Bishop said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bishop Davies said: \u201cAt the cradle of Bethlehem, we have learnt to value the life and dignity of every human being, especially the weakest and most vulnerable. The recognition of the sanctity of human life and the cherishing of the frailest \u2013 both notions utterly unthinkable to the ancient mind \u2013 would become the light which forged our civilisation; the vision, which first inspired our medical and nursing professions and has guided our best efforts in response to the recent pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor we heard the voice of the same Child of Bethlehem say, \u2018Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do to me\u2019. And we now see the stark contrast between a culture of death and despair, which readily discards human life, and that spirit of charity and self-giving service Christ\u2019s coming inspired: a contrast between darkness and light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: \u201cHow precarious Christian civilisation can appear in the face of an ever-growing assault upon the value of human life whether in the extension of the legalised killing of the unborn; or in the increasing threat to the elderly and vulnerable by euthanasia under the guise of \u2018assisted suicide\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bishop added: \u201cAmid every lengthening shadow, may we never lose the light of the Child who was born for us, who allows us to glimpse who we really are and discover our deepest identity as children of God. At this Christmas of 2020 and in the face of the challenges of a New Year to come, may we return to the light which first dawned in Bethlehem, the same light which shines for us at every \u2018Christ\u2019s Mass\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"