It’s here in the Nick of time.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan touted the hopeful message of Christmas yesterday as a much-needed respite from a string of recent tragedies that have socked the Northeast.
The red-clad cardinal delivered afternoon Mass to a group of more than a dozen severely ill children and their families on the Upper East Side who were put up by the Ronald McDonald House for the duration of their medical treatment.
“My message would be the message of Christmas: Hope, promise, love — and do we ever need it,” Dolan said afterward.
“There has been a lot of darkness, a lot of discouragement — when we look at the hurricane, when we look at what happened in Connecticut,” he added.
“What happened that night in Bethlehem, with the light of God bursting through — that happens every Christmas.”
Dolan said his visit to the Ronald McDonald House was a way of thanking the center for its wonderful care of his niece Shannon Williams, who was successfully treated for bone cancer 12 years ago.
“It’s an honor and joy to be with you,” Dolan told the crowd.
“You’re a gift, and this house is a gift.”
Brayden Kuhl, a 14-year-old from Deer Park, Wash., who was paralyzed in March by tumor on his spine, is spending two months at Ronald McDonald House rehabilitating from surgery at various NYU hospitals.
His mother, Bobbi, called the 23 steps her wheelchair-using son took on his own yesterday a “Christmas miracle.”
“I’m the most blessed woman you’ll talk to today,” she said.
Dolan echoed his earlier message at Midnight Mass this morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
While not directly addressing the recent tragedies, he told his flock, “Christmas is all about repair, restoration, renewal.
“Today’s bells chime in joy rather then in sorrow. For a moment, things are as they should be.”
Families from across the city echoed the cardinal’s message of holiday cheer.
“It’s been a sad year in many ways. We are all trying to be optimistic and hoping for a better year,” said Paul Piscitelli, who attended the midnight service with his girlfriend, Helga Cepeda, and their daughters, Annalise, 12, and Juliann, 9.
“A lot of people lost their homes, and that tragedy in Connecticut — they’re all in our thoughts tonight,” he said.
“New York is a great place to be to feel the Christmas spirit . . . It does make you forget about the troubles.” Piscitelli added that Dolan delivered an excellent message:
“I think he’s a wonderful speaker. I always look forward to hearing him talk.”