2,000 years later, the life of a refugee family is still a very harrowing one

The shops are thronged. In the supermarkets, trolleys are so heavily laden with stocks of food and goodies one would think that a famine was about to begin. Everyone is rushing hither and thither - planning parties, buying presents, making plans.

The cash registers tinkle. The shopkeepers laugh all the way to the bank. Millions of pounds are in circulation.

We are riding high on the back of the so-called Celtic Tiger. All our excesses are excused on the grounds that it's Christmas. But surely Christmas is about more than just having a good time?

When we cut through the trimmings surrounding the Christmas story we see many similarities with life in Irish society today. At its heart is a homeless family which, to escape the wrath of Herod, have to flee to Egypt. We often talk glibly of "no room at the inn", but let's face it: Jesus was a refugee.

What reception would the Holy Family get if they came to Ireland in 1997? Would they be treated in the same way as we have treated those who, during the past year, have come to our country seeking help?

These people fall into two categories: programme refugees and asylum- seekers. In the first category are people who have been invited here, such as Hungarians, Vietnamese, and Bosnians.

Asylum-seekers come to our shores in different ways. Many of them come from the former Yugoslavia, Zaire, Rwanda, Iraq and such like: countries which are well known to the international community as places where persecution, often ancillary to genocide, and discrimination against ethnic minorities are rampant.

Many have had to leave their countries for fear of imprisonment or death at the hands of harsh regimes. They cannot express themselves in English and have no idea of their rights in a foreign country.

Because of their experience they distrust those in authority. For the asylum-seeker to be admitted to Ireland he or she must try to explain in a foreign language the situation in his or her own country, who he or she is, what he or she did, and why it was necessary to flee.

For many it is a strange and harrowing experience, added to which is a terrible uncertainty about the future.

This is a dreadful situation for them and it is not helped by the great exaggerations of the numbers of refugees coming to our country.

At the beginning of October, I attended a meeting of Amnesty International which was called to highlight the plight of refugees in Ireland.

It was a very sobering affair, with refugees telling very harrowing stories about their escapes from persecution, and the loss of family and loved ones.

Each day hundreds and maybe thousands of people have to make the agonising decision to leave their homes, their communities and countries because they are afraid for their lives.

A few find their way to Ireland - very few in relation to world-wide movements. But even these small numbers have revealed serious xenophobic tendencies amongst some of our people.

This is strange because so many Irish people in the past were refugees themselves, and endured the experience of having to seek a new life elsewhere because of economic deprivation or persecution.

They were taken in by host countries, and their descendants made huge contributions to those adopted lands. I have ministered to some of those descendants in Canada and the United States.

It is possible that not every refugee is genuine, but many of them are, and on the whole they receive a rather cold reception in the land of a hundred thousand welcomes.

At this time of peace and goodwill, when many of us have never had it so good, surely we ought to do our best to be as receptive as possible to those who come to our shores.

They deserve all the help we can give them. They are a direct challenge to us all, particularly to those of us who are celebrating the birth of the Christ-child.

As the year draws to a close, it is time to reflect on the society in which we live. Unfortunately, all is not well in our State.

The McCracken Tribunal confirmed what many people suspected: that there were very shady areas in high places. We have a right to expect the highest standards from those we elect to govern and legislate in our name.

It is also important that we care for the vulnerable and marginalised in our society all the year round, and that we do not just throw them a few coppers at Christmas to give ourselves a "feel-good" glow.

We must use all our resources to alleviate areas of distress in our society. Otherwise all our carol-singing and preaching about the Christmas is in vain.

The meaning of Christmas, and indeed of the entire Christian Gospel, is love. As the carol puts it: "Love came down at Christmas," and He who is love taught us that we are "to love one another as I have loved you."

The Most Rev Walton Empey is Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin