Originally published at National Catholic Register
In the Christ child laying in a manger, we see the face of the Father’s mercy.
Bethlehem’s night tonight is a “Silent Night” but, because of war in the Holy Land, it is not perhaps a “Holy Night.”
The grim realities of war and terrorism not only in the Middle East but also in the Ukraine and in many places in Africa worry us all.
Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, countries near to us – and certainly, dear to many of us – are seemingly without hope as hundreds of thousands have fled and others live in want, fear, and insecurity.
Here in the U.S., the tragedies of addiction, family break-ups, and violence are ongoing problems as well as are divisions in our body politic. All these things remind us that we live in a world of fragile peace and broken promises.
Yet, in faith we proclaim this night a “Holy Night” – and we break the silence of this night with joyful songs. We sing with renewed hope: “Joy to the World.” That we can do so is because as St. John Paul II once wrote, “the limit imposed on evil of which man is both perpetrator and
