Diocesan News
2025 Christmas message from the Dean of Limerick
We live in an age of busyness and hurriedness. We cannot wait for anything – I’m guilty of that, I have very little patience for waiting. Even Christmas cannot escape being rushed. Some of us would want it here in October, if we had our way. But one of the wonders of Christmas is that we must wait. Advent comes first – a time of waiting and preparation.
As we come again to the mystery of the Nativity, we are reminded that God’s salvation does not arrive in haste, nor according to our hurried expectations. Christmas invites us not to rush toward some imagined spiritual destination, but to dwell in the truth that Christ has already come among us – God with us, Emmanuel.
We often imagine the journey to Bethlehem as a frantic one, yet Scripture shows us a simple obedience: shepherds keeping watch; Mary pondering things quietly in her heart; Joseph trusting in God’s guidance step by steady step. None of them hurried; rather, they received. They waited, they listened.
So in these days that can feel filled with pressure and hurry – preparations to manage, expectations to meet, gatherings to arrange – may we remember that it is not our striving that brings Christ near, but God’s love. We need not race to “get there,” for our Lord is already here, drawing close, revealing His glory in the ordinary, and calling us to rest in His peace.
May we learn to pause, to wonder, to notice the gentle signs of His presence – the kindness of a friend, the peace of prayer, the song of hope that rises even in uncertain times.
And as we give thanks for His birth, may the living Christ guide our steps with His light, fill our homes with His peace, and make room within us for His joy. May His compassion shape our lives and continually turn us toward those in need.
The Christmas season is a special time of the year when family and friends gather to celebrate and relax. For those travelling to Limerick this December – you are very welcome to join us in Saint Mary’s Cathedral; Saint Michael’s, Pery Square, or Ss John & Ailbe, Abington, for our Christmas services and events. And for those for whom Christmas is not a particularly joyful time – I hope that you may find peace in that which only the Christ child gives to all of us.
A happy and peaceful Christmas to you and every blessing for 2026.
The Very Revd Niall J.W. Sloane
Dean of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick
Diocesan Communications Officer, Tuam, Limerick & Killaloe
089 448 9353
Stephen Fletcher
[email protected]