Father Gerald Murray, the paster for the Church of the Holy Family, Sunday on Newsmax urged people who are feeling lonely during this Christmas season to "go to Jesus."
"They have to do just as the shepherds did when they were out in the fields when they got the message from the angel: Go see the infant Christ," Murray said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Prayer, which unites us to God, overcomes all boundaries … when we pray we're also united with all other believers, and that's important. We call it the Communion of the Saints. We join together in prayer and, you know, God gives us many graces."
Christmas is a time for gifts, he added, and "one of the gifts that God gives us is the ability to bear the difficulties and crosses we have."
He also urged the lonely to "be a little bit like Joseph and Mary."
"They traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem," Murray said. "So if you need to find companionship, go out there and talk to your neighbors and your friends and the good Lord will be with you."
Meanwhile, Father Leo Patalinghug, founder of Plating Grace, appeared on Sunday's show and said that with Christianity being under attack, people should remember that it's because Christians "carry the cross of our faith" as Jesus Christ did.
"Christ said if we have to carry a cross we will experience persecution, so suffering isn't uncommon to the Christian faith," he said. "Secondly what we can do is develop compassion and try to serve others who are also carrying greater burdens, as Father Murray said.
"You know when we reach out to other people, especially people in need, we almost sense God's grace is with us, and that's solitary or that loneliness almost goes away because we are kind of coming together as God's family, So don't be afraid of suffering, and don't be afraid to serve.
"And, the message of Christmas is that of the gift of Christ, and that is reflected in the gift giving as a sign that we love our neighbor, our friends, our families," said Murray. " But the greatest gift is what we have to thank God for in the first place, which is Jesus Christ. ... He reminds us that we're all vulnerable. We need God's help, and that's where love comes in."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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