Christmas a meditation

Christmas is a time of great joy, there is the joy of families being together or giving each other nice gifts,  and even making great sacrifices. It's also can be an time time of great tragedies.

In the the Christmas story you have the story of the birth of  Jesus with the rejoicing of the poor and the rich, as illustrated by the the shepherds and the Wise men with their gifts, and the Shepherds with the gifts of their joys.

Also there are the tragedies of the killing of the innocents by the paranoic Herod the Great, and the subsequent fleeing of the Holy Family to Egypt.

Personally my family had a wonderful Christmas,  firstly attending the Christmas creche at our parisn church of St Illtud, Llantwit thanks to the church's of all denominations in Llantwit.  It is quite fitting that a celebration of Christmas can only begin with the celebration of Jesus birth.

Then
by the magic of technology we were able to communicate with our family members around the world, by Face time and Skype,  and of course Magic Jack, and then we were picked up by my brother in law and niece,  Izzie and taken to my sister's house in Caerau, Cardiff for a wonderful dinner,  and with gratitude for the great gifts that we received (including my new Samsung tablet from my mother! Thank you Mum). A great meal prepared by my sister (thank you Trudie).

Then there are the tragedies around Christmas,  whether it is personal like my father's passing December 12th,2000,  a loss we still feel, or tragedy such as the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

A recent tragedy was the death of Vincent Francis at a rugby match which he took part in. I was in school with him and he was quite young a terrible shock to his family, and a Christmas that will bring with it tragic memories, and something I will not forget.

We pray that Christmas will be a time of great joy,  but that those who suffer loss may receive comfort that they need.