Every year, this Christmas party is held for the children of the people living in the Mews ofBuckingham Palace. Everyone seems to be enjoying it. Usually, we're lucky with the weather,but tonight it seems a bit more like a typical English winter. The children have been waiting forthe usual buildup of excitement and expectation for Father Christmas to arrive, no doubt,wondering what he's brought with him in his sack.
For the children, the party and the meeting with Father Christmas are perhaps the mostexciting part of the evening.
But I hope that a walk through the stables also helps to bring the traditional story alive forthem. I hope it also helps them to realise how fortunate they are to have comfortable homesand warm beds to go to, unlike the Holy Family, who had to share with the animals becausethere was no room at the Inn.
Christmas is a festival for all Christians, but it is particularly a festival for children. As we allknow, it commemorates the birth of a child, who was born to ordinary people, and who grew upvery simply in his own small home town and was trained to be a carpenter.
His life thus began in humble surroundings, in fact, in a stable, but he was to have aprofound influence on the course of history, and on the lives of generations of his followers.You don't have to be rich or powerful in order to change things for the better and each of us inour own way can make a contribution.
The infant Jesus was fortunate in one very important respect. His parents were loving andconsiderate. They did their utmost to protect him from harm. They left their own home andbecame refugees to save him from King Herod, and they brought him up according to thetraditions of their faith.
On this Birthday festival, which we try to make an occasion of happiness for our own families,we must not forget those children who are the victims of ill treatment or neglect.
It is no easy task to care for and bring up children, whatever your circumstances – whether youare famous or quite unknown. But we could all help by letting the spirit of Christmas fill ourhomes with love and care and by heeding Our Lord's injunction to treat others as you wouldlike them to treat you.
When, as the Bible says, Christ grew in wisdom and understanding, he began his task ofexplaining and teaching just what it is that God wants from us.
The two lessons that he had for us, which he underlined in everything he said and did, are themessages of God's love and how essential it is that we, too, should love other people.
There are many serious and threatening problems in this country and in the world, but theywill never be solved until there is peace in our homes and love in our hearts.
The message which God sent us by Christ's life and example is a very simple one, even thoughit seems so difficult to put into practice.
To all of you, of every faith and race, I send my best wishes for a time of peace and tranquilitywith your families at this Festival of Christmas. A very Happy Christmas to you all.