Bishop Anthony Randazzo has released his Christmas message to the community of the Church of Broken Bay, acknowledging the challenges of 2020, but also encouraging everyone to make the most of the opportunities presented to us despite a difficult year.
With Churches closing in the Northern Beaches region of the Diocese due to a COVID outbreak and uncertainty hanging over the celebrations of Christmas across the nation due to Government restrictions and border closures, Bishop Anthony urges everyone to focus on what is most important in this holy season.
“This year has given us the opportunity to push the reset button. To come right back to basics,” says Bishop Anthony. “To discover anew the person of Jesus Christ, our beginning and end.”
In a video message, Bishop Anthony urges people not to “close the door on 2020 and get it over and done with” but to be grateful for the many blessings we might have encountered amidst the difficulties.
Such challenges, the Bishop explains, have made us more aware of our vulnerability, and this is never comfortable.
“The blessing of family and friends at times of social separation. The blessing of home amidst the frenetic pace of everyday life and demands. The opportunity to address the poverty of loneliness by reaching out to others. The comfort of prayer and relationship with God in times of isolation.”
“Right across the world, it seems no one has been spared the effects of the pandemic. Our health, our economy, our freedom and our way of life, have all been affected.”
“In the midst of this discomfort,” says Bishop Anthony “Jesus Christ shows us the way to respond”.
The person of Jesus Christ is the focus of the Bishop’s first Pastoral Letter to the people of the Diocese, released on the First Sunday of Advent and outlining his six key priorities.
Entitled Jesus Christ, our beginning and end, the letter is addressed to each member of the community of the Church of Broken Bay and is designed to be a resource for reflection and prayer over the coming year.
Read the Pastoral Letter here.
“The season of Advent and Christmas is a time for tenderness and welcome, for gratitude and giving, for peace and hope,” says Bishop Anthony.
Bishop Anthony closes his message by praying a blessing that became a global online phenomenon during the pandemic as Christian churches joined together to record a song of blessing over the nations. It is the blessing that God gave Moses to pray over the people of Israel:
“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
“May you have a blessed Christmas!” says Bishop Anthony.
Watch the full message here: