A Christmas Message from Father Matt

Matt Ruhl

Every year we get the traditional messages of Christmas happy tidings and goodwill, of peace and all things holy and joyful. And that’s a good thing because Christmas is a time for joy. But it’s also a time when bad things happen, as they do all throughout the year, and that’s where the very real, very rootsy Father Matt Ruhl makes his presence felt. Today, as he does every week to his parishioners in Church, Father Ruhl shared his wish for Christmas, and for Belize.

Father Matt Ruhl, St. Martin’s Parish

“If you’re paying attention, if your eyes are open throughout the year you see all the hatred, ignorance, violence and fear – all that is darkness…it’s all just darkness. But at Christmas we celebrate the light of Christ coming into our world. And everybody is happy and joyful because the light of Christ is wisdom, its peace, it’s grace, it’s stillness. So we celebrate Christmas but then we have to take all that light and take it out of the Church and into the streets, and out of the family and into the streets. We have to become the bearers of the light of Christ, and that’s what Christmas is…Christ is the light of the world and the light of the world had to come into the world because there is so much darkness. And now you and I are called to be the light. Once we have the light of Christ in us, then we are the light of Christ, and we become the light of the world, and it is a big responsibility. And it is a responsibility that Christians need to take very seriously.”

Mike Rudon

“On the ground, keeping it real…what would you like to see not only in this community which is one of the hot zones in the city, but in the wider community?”

Father Matt Ruhl

“People need to start taking peace seriously. Belize is such a beautiful country and Belize has beautiful people. Where in God’s name is all this violence coming from? My Christmas wish for this beautiful country is that Belize becomes as peaceful as it is beautiful. That’s my prayer…that Belize becomes as peaceful as it is beautiful.”