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A candle is lit by a child in Uganda
“And I have been with you wherever you went.”
The first reading for Christmas Eve takes us to the palace of King David. David, who having faced enemies ever since he fought Goliath as a young boy, has finally achieved peace and ascended to the throne. The King confides his plans to the prophet Nathan. The Ark of the Covenant should no longer stay in a tent while David lives in a house of cedar. He wishes to rebuild the temple and move the ark to a more permanent home.
However, it is not God’s plan for David to build him a temple. Rather it is the Lord who will build David a house, a royal line from which will come a future King whose throne will be established forever. Through the prophet Nathan, the Lord reminds David, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went.”
This message to David is also God’s message to us. Through our difficulties, through violence and war, disasters and grief, God has been with us.
On Christmas Eve, as we begin the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, let’s open our hearts to God who has come to be with us wherever we go. And as we work for a more just and peaceful world, let’s pray that we may walk alongside our global family in solidarity and love.
Christmas Eve prayer
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!
He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant.
(From the Canticle of Zechariah)
Act
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