Scottish Catholic Observer

A wise, religious man with a spring in his step and a song in his heart told The Scottish Catholic Observer this week that—in spite of the many challenges to Christianity—this is God’s world, He made it and it is beautiful and good. He added that, as a result, this is our world and the Faithful are at the heart of it, so therefore we cannot be marginalised. It was a simple yet startling message, a true Christmas gift.

Here at the SCO, the editorial team is often asked what is ‘news?’ The Catholic press aims to play its part in bringing the ‘Good News’ and good news to readers, but the essence of what is deemed newsworthy in our modern media is regularly defined by negativity.

Highlighting what is wrong so people can be aware and take action ranks higher than reflecting in what is right. Like everyone else, journalists can become bogged down in what is going wrong around them rather than see the good that is right in front of their noses. Yet focusing on the good does not ignore or whitewash the bad, but balances it.

As Mgr Basil O’Sullivan, administrator of Dunkeld Diocese, said in his Christmas message: “The Light of Christ continues to shine in our own age, dark as it may seem.” (Pages 8-9)

For many families, that light never shines brighter than at Christmas, when God gives us His only Son, Jesus Christ. During Advent we not only prepare for Christmas, but as Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow said earlier this month, Advent marks ‘preparation for the coming of Christ in the manger of Bethlehem’ and also acts as a ‘reminder of Christ’s final coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.’

For some people, however, Christmas is a struggle: spiritually, emotionally and, increasingly, financially. These are the people who need help finding the Light this Christmas. These are the people who need to be reminded there is a great deal of good left in this world, and the promise of the next. In conveying this, our actions—love and kindness—are as important as our words.

“All of us can reach out this Christmas, not only to the destitute asylum seeker, but to the many forgotten souls in our midst, perhaps a lonely neighbour or elderly relative,” Archbishop Tartaglia said.

As Cardinal Keith O’Brien writes in the SCO this week, reflecting on the Christmas carol Silent Night (page 10): “I have spent more time in silence over the past three months than ever before in my priestly ministry… There has been that time to ‘think’ more and to realise at this time the significance of the first Christmas for me and for our world, and to realise again the strength of my own Faith.”

The SCO wishes all readers a very happy and Holy Christmas and a peaceful Year of Faith in 2013, with time to think and focus on what is good and positive.