It’s Christmas – the celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. His birth brings peace, lavishes love, generates new hope and makes a new beginning. He comes to dwell among us and his dwelling among us is celebrated as Christmas! So Christmas is an event of God coming to live on earth in human flesh; it is God manifesting his solidarity with humankind.
An 11 year old boy with Cancer lost all the hair on his head as a result of Chemotherapy treatment. When the time came for his to return to school, he and his parents experimented with hats and wigs to try to conceal his baldness. They finally settled on a baseball cap. But the boy still feared the taunts he would receive for looking different. Mustering his courage, he went to school wearing his cap and discovered to his great surprise that all of his friends had shaved their heads to share their solidarity with their friend. It was their way of expressing their love and sympathy. That is what God did at Christmas. Except sin, he became one among us: he became one among us so that he might be with us all the time; he became one of us so that we might become like him and be with him forever. This means that the Incarnation is the starting point of our divinization.
As we celebrate the process of our divinization and ponder at the great Mystery of God’s solidarity with us, God’s oneness among us, God’s self-emptying for us, it’s worth recalling the words of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, “In order to penetrate a whole human life with the Divine life, it is not enough to kneel once a year before the crib and let ourselves be captivated by the charm of the holy night. To achieve this, we must be daily in contact with God.”
To keep in contact with God daily and to make Christmas a reality, we need to move from noise to silence, from celebration to mission. Yes, it is easy to find HIM in the Manger but hard to find him in our neighbour. It is easy to find HIM in the worship place but hard to find him on the work place. To live Christmas is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and quench the thirsty. It is to love and not hate, forgive and not retaliate, share and not hoard. Let this be our endeavour as we move onto the NEW YEAR 2020. Let the Light of the Holy Babe overcome darkness, Hope overcome despair, Love overcome hatred, Life erase the shadow of death and Peace overcome division. I wish you a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020 filled with Blessings!
The pages inside unfold the stories of the staff and students, their elations and ecstasies, delights and enchantments, enrichments and enhancements, celebrations and festivities. Events like the celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation – Mahatma Gandhi, the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru (Children’s Day), death anniversary of our revered Founder, Annual Days and Sports Days drive home to us that education takes place not only through books but also through activities. May the year 2020 be a blessing to our students and educate them to face life, as said by Dr Hibben, “Education is the ability to face life’s situations”.
Sr Mariette BS
Secretary, BES, Mangalore
