Will your Christmas include worship, asks Joseph Duffy?
The peace and joy we associate with this time of year have been shattered by the recent dramatic reminders of the scourge of cocaine in our society.
There has been an unprecedented outpouring of commentary and discussion in the national media, most of it well informed and genuinely caring but - in terms of forming an adequate response - we seem to be as far away as ever from identifying a solution.
At first glance it's all a harsh and harrowing parable of the kind of Ireland that we inhabit today.
On the one hand, there is a lot of money around - whether borrowed or earned - and much of it spent on non-essentials, on expensive gifts, multiple foreign holidays and lavish parties.
On the other hand, and alongside this splurge, there is enormous support for charities and for those heroic people who work quietly behind the scenes to help their neighbours' problems in all kinds of practical and sensitive ways.
The voluntary sector may not be what it used to be, but it is alive and well, especially at Christmas time.
All of this comes into sharp focus when we meet people, open our newspaper or turn on our television and radio.
For the most part we are met with reports of damage or destruction to human lives whose potential is now reduced or, worse, destroyed.
There is an onus on us, as Christians, to try to understand what propels these scenarios in the first place if we are to have any success in addressing them. It seems that in a lot of cases they are underpinned by unhappiness.
We know there is a Christian answer, fine in theory and aspiration, but somehow failing to get through in practice so that it can make a significant difference.
A primary need for all of us is stable relationships, people to be close to and who are accessible to us if we are to be ourselves.
The challenge to make and keep friends is at the core of human existence.
What we are all in need of is the kind of relationship that will sustain us in bad times, a mutual love that will give direction and content to our everyday life, a love that remains even when all else seems to have gone away.
Because this relationship has to shape our experience as a whole and not merely in part, it has to respond to life at its very foundations. Above all, it has to respond to the mystery of death and the sense that is within us to reach beyond death.
To keep our feet on the ground, this anchor relationship has to find visible, tangible expression in time and place. This will mean reaching out to those around us at levels appropriate to each, beginning with family, colleagues, workmates and companions.
We need to order our lives so that we may come together at specific times, so that we may have space for freedom to see beyond the bustle and tedium of everyday life.
Christmas gives us that space if we choose to use it.
For many people, Christmas is a time of rest and leisure. Leisure time is important and necessary, especially after the hectic rush before the feast. Each of us knows this.
Yet, if leisure time lacks an inner focus, an overall sense of purpose, it too becomes wasted time, wasted time that neither strengthens nor builds us up. Leisure time, as with other parts of our lives, needs a focus, a meeting point with God who is our origin and goal.
St Augustine says of Christ: "It was not enough for God to give us his Son merely to point out the way. He made the Son himself the way, so that you may journey with Him as your guide."
By taking up this challenge today, to give ourselves time and space to journey with our Lord, we will know the true enjoyment of this Christmas feast.
• Bishop Joseph Duffyis Bishop of Clogher and chairman of the Communications Commission of the Irish Bishops' Conference