One of my most vivid childhood memories of Christmas is queuing with my parents after Mass to visit the crib. There was no shortage of people anxious to catch a glimpse, so it could be a wait. But in those days, nobody seemed to mind waiting. Life was much less of a rush, writes Archbishop Seán Brady
I also remember the magic and the mystery of it all. No one had to say it, children and adults just seemed to know that this was a place of silence and whispers, a place where impossible things had happened and where a child lay wrapped in simple clothes, a child, I always seemed to notice, with arms wide open in welcome.
Perhaps this is why, in spite of all the hustle and bustle of the modern Irish Christmas, so many people still make the effort, and still find peace and hope in making a visit to the crib. The crib emerges as an oasis of life and meaning in the midst of the increasingly aggressive, competitive and vacuous world which now characterises so much of Irish life. It captures, even for a moment, something of the magic and mystery, something of the silence and sacredness that has become increasingly lost amidst the welcome success of recent years.
One of the clearest and most welcome signs of that success, recently, was our being identified by Economist magazine "quality-of-life" survey as the most desirable place to live, specifically because Ireland has managed to combine the most desirable elements of a wealthy economy with the preservation of more traditional values such as family, spirituality and community life.
But it seems that this precious balance, and with it the quality of our overall success, may be increasingly under threat. There is increasing evidence of a loss of balance, which is manifest in a profound lack of respect for the inestimable value of our own lives.
You can see it in the way people drive, in the increasing "rage" people feel in our supermarket car-parks at Christmas. You can see it in the sinful and illegal habit of excess speeding and the horrendous level of deaths on our roads. It is evident in our culture of excessive drinking, for which we have become shamefully renowned, and in the culture of violence and aggression which has developed among the young.
It is even evident in an increasing coarseness in conversation and a lack of patience with stillness in our lives, in the popularity of violent video games and increasing alienation from life itself, not least in the alarming increase each year in the rates of suicide.
All of this is evidence of a loss of our sense of the inestimable value of life. For those who are willing to take the time to look and reflect, it will become clear that all is not yet well in Irish life, that until we recover our respect for and commitment to the deeper values of family, community, life and spirituality in the midst of our success, then that success could become the very source of our fear rather than of our hopes, of our isolation and fragmentation rather than our shared prosperity.
A great consolation for me, in recent days, has been a visit to a home for people with very severe mental disabilities. I never cease to be amazed at the inspiration, love, attention and truly heroic dedication which the nurses and the carers in such hospitals show to those in their care. It totally restores my confidence in the goodness and kindness of so many people.
These carers illustrate, magnificently, the truth that people with disabilities are fully human subjects, with rights and duties. Speaking of persons with disabilities, Pope John Paul II said: "In spite of the limitations and sufferings affecting their bodies, they point out more clearly, the dignity of man."
Christmas is also the season that evokes so many wonderful efforts on behalf of the old, the lonely and the housebound.
I was very pleased to hear a presenter on Shannonside-Northern Sound Radio urge his listeners, last Sunday, to make sure to be on the look-out for elderly neighbours who may be lonely or neglected. One way in which younger people can respond to the love of God, revealed in Jesus Christ at Christmas, is through the generous attention they may show to the elderly who live in their families.
The presence of the elderly can take on great value. They are an example of connections between generations, a resource for the well-being of the family and of the whole of society. They show that there are aspects of life, such as human, cultural, moral and social values, which cannot be judged solely in terms of finance or economic efficiency.
The elderly constitute an important school of life. They are well able to hand on values and traditions. They can play a part in fostering the growth of young people. When they begin to experience suffering and dependency, of course the elderly need healthcare service and appropriate help, but above all they need to be treated with love.
By coming among us as man Jesus has taken upon himself our human weakness, and as a result he has given to "our mortal nature" immortal value. So each and every one of us is a person of immense value, undying value. This is what we are reminded of when we look into the crib, that in the midst of all the stresses and strains of life, we are simply loved, that God loved us so much, that he sent his only Son.
Our faith in this great truth contains an extraordinary yet simple answer to the crisis of meaning in modern Irish life. And it can all be seen in the Christmas crib, in that place where the hopes and fears of all the years converge in the open arms of a little child.
Maybe when you get a chance, you could call into a church and see.
Dr Seán Brady is Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland