Today is the Winter Solstice and has particular significance at Newgrange, Co.Meath
Today is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemishphere. Daylight is short, scarce and precious. Darkness seems to be the dominant force and for some overwhelming. This thought must have perplexed our great ancestors who lived over 5000 years ago, particularly up in Newgrange, Co.Meath. They wanted to mark the winter solstice in some way and knew that in the depths of great darkness there is a turning point. Their response was to build a long chamber to capture the first rays of sunlight at dawn on Dec 21st each year. These rays of sunlight penetrate some 50 feet into the inner chamber where the ashes of the dead were kept. It is an extraordinary construction that required painstaking and precise work.
Thought on Thursday – December – 21/12/2017
Thought For The Week
‘Christmas is joy, religious joy, an inner joy of light and peace.’ ~Pope Francis
This week will see lots of Christmas preparations. It can be a hectic time trying to get through the list of important jobs to be done but hopefully all done in an enjoyable way too. St Vincent De Paul have a simple but very effective logo for their Christmas appeal, ‘Christmas is not the same for everyone’. So while the build up to our Christmas can be enjoyable and happy, for others this may not be so. For some it can be a stressful, difficult and sad time for lots of reasons. Hopefully bridges of love, empathy and care will be built and extended to those who need help the most.
Last Sunday we marked the 3rd Sunday of Advent and it is called ‘Joyful Sunday’. In many churches it is represented on the Advent wreath by the lighting of a pink candle. It is a day to celebrate good news stories in our community and in our lives. On this day no apologies are made for highlighting our good news stories. It is crucial and important that we do. We have a natural tendency to lean towards negative and sad stories. The vast majority of news stories shared online and through media outlets feed and thrive on our hunger for such stories. There is nothing to stop this hunger as it is part of our makeup. But what needs to be addressed is the total lack of balance. We need to hear good news, we need to nurture good news and importantly we need to celebrate good news. We need to bring the balance back in.
Many of us tend to take for granted the many good things happening in our lives. There is much to celebrate but we often don’t bother or think it’s worth the effort. Sometimes and sadly there are times when we think we are not worth it. The message of ‘Joyful Sunday’ is of course you are worth it and of course you are worth celebrating. If we can’t do that, then there is no point having Christmas. Christmas celebrates you. You are special and always will be. Christmas is all about God celebrating you. We put the spotlight on all our good news stories this week.
