1998

16th December 1998
Bishop Michael Malone's Christmas Message: "Will You Hear the Angels Sing this Christmas?"
During the Christmas season we get a sense that the normality of life is suddenly interrupted.

Leading up to Christmas we tend to get caught up in the frenzied rush of shopping and parties, finishing up at work to go on holidays or preparing for the annual visit of family and friends.

Suddenly everything stops. It is Christmas day! The shops are shut! The banks are closed! You might be lucky to get petrol and it will be almost impossible to find a dentist! These are just some of the signs that there is something different about Christmas.

Often the experience of Christmas is accompanied by feelings of isolation, abnormality and helplessness - a sense that you've really got to search for what you need. In this environment of heightened difference will we be able to hear the angels sing?

I believe that it is in this 'other-worldliness', when we feel disoriented, when experiences are foreign or least expected, that God comes to birth.

Christmas reminds us that God-is-with-us in our humanity, our joys, our suffering, our sinfulness … in everything! God is born in our midst all the time, yet is often unrecognised. If only we would take the time to stop, to listen and become aware.

It is in the quiet of Christmas that we can begin to hear the faint sound of singing and are able to ask "Where is that singing coming from?" and "Why is there singing anyway"?

To ask these questions is the first step to an understanding that goes beyond the intellect or reason. It is an understanding that allows faith to shed light on our experiences. If we hear the angels sing, we are more likely to see the light of the star! These will lead us to Jesus.

Like the angels we are called to be God's messengers - to announce the good news, to live justly and with love and compassion. We can help others to hear the singing and to see the star - to find the truth of God's presence deep within.

But contemporary society has little time for singing angels, nomadic shepherds and hazy wise men, not to mention an unknown baby! How will the human race find the child Jesus in the manger if no one hears the angels sing?

Someone needs to say "Hey stop and listen!" And if that's not you, who is it going to be?

God wants to be known on earth and in all creation and chooses Jesus to do the revealing. Through God "men and women are offered the ultimate truth about their own life and about the goal of history" (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 1998).
If we can't hear the angels singing, how can we be messengers of God? Will you hear the angels sing this Christmas? Will you sing with them? Will you experience God this Christmas?

Happy Christmas everyone!

Most Reverend Michael Malone
Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle

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