‘A Christmas Miracle’ as told by Ely Cathedral

Patrick Comerford

We are in the first week of Advent, with just three weeks to go to Christmas Day. Our attention spans have altered, and we are easily distracted by jingles and shopfront images that raise our levels of joyful anticipation.

Sounds and images have a greater impact than words.

And so, instead of speaking at the school assembly in Rathkeale this morning, I used a new Advent film launched by Ely Cathedral and the Diocese of Ely yesterday, on Advent Sunday (Sunday 3 December).

There are people and places I recognise in this film, and the story is told movingly and with beauty.

Earlier this year, the Diocese of Ely and Ely Cathedral teamed up for Holy Week to run a joint social media campaign that ended up reaching over 1 million people in the space of a week.

As a result of this success, the cathedral and the diocese have joined forces once again for another campaign for Advent – this time telling the Christmas story.

Entitled #aChristmasMiracle, the campaign launched yesterday features this film telling the story of the original Christmas miracle, the Nativity of Christ.

Supporting this film, four additional discussion films will explore the themes of both Advent and Christmas. These will help people to engage, get involved with and learn more about the true meanings of these two distinct liturgical seasons.

In addition to these discussion films, a series of short articles published daily throughout Advent that will again allow people to learn and engage with Advent and the Christmas story more fully and deepen in discipleship.

The campaign will also include films from the Cathedral Boy and Girl Choristers and the Gesualdo Six singing some beautiful music. All films and articles will be available to view, free of charge, online, so keep an eye on the Cathedral and Diocesan social media pages for these.