Udupi: Bishop Dr Gerald Lobo Conveys Christmas Greetings

Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SM)

Udupi, Dec 23: Dr Gerald Lobo, the first bishop of Udupi diocese conveyed his Christmas greetings during a get-together and interactive programme with mediapersons organized at the Bishop's House at Mother Sorrow Church here on Saturday, December 22.

He expressed his gratitude and thanked the media for the support extended during the formation of the Udupi new diocese. He said, “God gave an apt occasion to thank and wish you all. Let our meeting always remain fruitful.”

In future, he assured all kinds of support to the media at all times. “Writing is a noble job, so for any social welfare, we will work together. Let us all live with love and harmony. Wish you all a ‘Merry Christmas’, he added.

Dr Baptist Menezes, vicar general, Fr Valerian Mendonca, chancellor, Fr Henry Sequiera, William Martis and others were present on the occasion.
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Bishop's Message on Christmas

Christmas: Making a Heaven of Earth

“Merry Christmas “and “Happy New Year” are two greetings which go out in a pair as the New Year follows Christmas. Christmas or "Christ's Mass" is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25 by billions of people all over the world. It is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations and is celebrated universally by Christians and non-Christians alike.

Rabindranath Tagore, our celebrated national poet, observed, “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of humanity.” Christmas, the feast of the nativity of Jesus Christ, comes to us with the same message of hope that God loves mankind and wants every human being to be saved.

St Matthew, in his gospel (1:18-24), describes the historical birth of Jesus Christ graphically. He says, “This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, ‘Look! The virgin is with a child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the

Lord told him to do. He took his wife to his home.”

The life and message of the divine personality of Jesus Christ has come to mankind as a soothing balm. The world torn between the forces of good and evil, violence and non-violence, was craving for liberation, mukti, nirvana, relief and salvation. In the magnetic personality of Jesus Christ, the human and the divine came together.

His preaching bore a universal message - a message of peace, love and forgiveness. That is why thousands thronged to listen to his words. His parables were pictorial stories which communicated heavenly values. His miracles healed the sick, fed the hungry and even raised the dead to life.

The preaching of Jesus focused on the establishment of the kingdom of God upon this earth. His Sermon on the Mount, which Mahatma Gandhi loved, bore a message of hope to the lowly and the down-trodden.
• Blessed are the poor in spirit
• Blessed are the meek
• Blessed are they who mourn
• Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice
• Blessed are the merciful
• Blessed are the clean of heart
• Blessed are the peacemakers
• Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake!

’They will be done’ was his prayer; ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’ was his plea to his heavenly Father. His compassionate and merciful love, unconquerable benevolence and invincible good will were unique and unprecedented. He advised his followers to serve the needy, forgive each other unconditionally and wash each other’s feet as he himself came to serve and not to be served. Pope John Paul II of revered memory, who walked in the foot-steps of Jesus, went personally to the prison cell of the one who attempted to assassinate him and forgave his would-be murderer.

Mother Teresa, a universal mother, born in Albania and served the destitute and the dying on the streets in Kolkata, proved that the teaching of Jesus was as practical to the modern man as it was 2000 years ago. These great souls of the modern world have shown us that love and forgiveness are the panacea for all the ills of mankind.

The great historian H. G. Wells stated, “I am an historian. I’m not a believer. But as an historian, I must confess that this penniless preacher from Galilee has become irresistibly the centre of history.”

Indeed, Jesus Christ spoke with authority. None made the claims that he made, “I am the good shepherd; I am the Light of the World; I am the Bread of Life; I am the Door of the Sheep; I am the Resurrection and Life; I am the true vine; I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

From a secular point of view, Jesus was a young man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.

While He was still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to the cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his tunic. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

He had no servants, yet they called him Master! He had no degrees, yet they called him Teacher! He administered no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet the kings feared him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world with love and forgiveness. He committed no crime, yet they crucified him!

He bloomed like a lotus from the quagmire of sinful humanity as the Savior of mankind from Mother Mary, who, according to Wordsworth, is ‘our tainted nature’s solitary boast’. He brought us liberation from the unreal to the real, nirvana from darkness to light, and mukti from death to immortality. Love, Peace and Forgiveness formed the core of his preaching.

When Louis Fisher, the American biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, came to live with him for a week in his mud-walled hut, Fisher found a one and only black and white picture of Jesus Christ on the wall. The subscription below it read: “He is our Peace”. Upon being asked of its purpose, the Mahatma claimed that he was “a Christian, a Hindu, a Moslem and a Jew”.  The biographer adds that he was Christ-like. The Sermon on the Mount with the 8 Beatitudes were dear to his heart. Jesus’ weapons of truth and non-violence were adopted by him successfully in order to dismantle the mighty foreign empire.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he stands as the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. As an anonymous author says, “I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that One Solitary Life.” That is of Jesus Christ. However, mankind seems to be still in the dark. Only when we recognize our brother or sister in our neighbor, then can we experience true liberation.

Christmas trees, Christmas carols, Christmas cribs, Christmas sweets, Christmas greetings, Santa Claus, etc. are symbols associated with sharing. Just as God shared his love with mankind through Jesus, we need to share our love in service. The popular Carols: Silent Night, O come all ye faithful, We three Kings of Orient are, The First Noel, O little town of Bethlehem, Angels we have heard on high, Go, tell it on the mountain, Hark the Herald angels sing, Joy to the world, etc. remind us that Christmas stands for sharing, caring and bearing.

Christmas in the changed scenario of the day, invites us to realize that all of us are the children of the same God. Only when we are enlightened and inspired can we experience true peace in our consciences as the children of the same God, and therefore, mutual brothers and sisters. May Christmas unite us into one global family to make a heaven of our earth!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!

Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo
Bishop of Udupi