Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Honourable Former President of India
Ushers in the Christmas Celebrations
at the Christmas get-together of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, hosted the Christmas gathering to usher in the Christmas celebrations in the Country, on 13th Dec. 2018, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral premises, New Delhi.The Christmas carols sung melodiously by the CJM school choir filled the atmosphere with joy as the guests who included Ministers, Members of Parliament, Bureaucrats, Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic corps, Bishops, Priests, Sisters, Brothers, leaders of various Christian denominations and different faiths and the laity, entered the hall. The Chief Guest for the evening was Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Honourable Former President of India and other Guests of Honour on the stage were His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Shri Justice Kurien Joseph, Retired Judge – Supreme Court of India, Shri Conrad Sangma, Honourable Chief Minister of Meghalaya, His Excellency Joshua Mar Ignathios, Vice President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Shri K.J. Alphonse, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and IT – Govt. Of India and Rev. Monsignor Mitja Leskovar, First Counsellor, Apostolic Nunciature, India.
The programme started with the opening prayer led by His Grace Most Rev. Vincent Concessao, Archbishop Emeritus of Delhi. His Excellency, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General of the CBCI welcomed the Chief Guest, the guests of Honour and all the dignitaries who had arrived for the function. In his welcome address he quoted W.J. Cameron who said,”There has been only one Christmas – the rest are anniversaries” and announced the theme of the celebration this year – United in diversity for a mission of service and witness” which was the theme of the Church in India for the year. After the welcome speech Chief Guest was felicitated with a shawl by His Excellency Joshua Mar Ignathios, the Vice President of the CBCI.
The President of the CBCI, Cardinal Oswald Gracias in his Christmas message said that there was a perceptible atmosphere of joy and peace specially with the presence of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, a man of peace and good will, as the Chief guest. Jesus came to bring peace and reconciliation in an unprecedented way in the history of humankind. The nativity scene at Bethlehem is a perfect scene of peace and harmony with God, humanity and nature. As Christmas is an assurance that God is with us, it is also a challenge to all of us that we need to be agents of peace and harmony even as the whole world welcomes Jesus yet once again. He concluded his message extending the Christmas wishes of peace, harmony and reconciliation to all.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Chief Guest in his message expressing his joy at being present at the celebration conveyed his heartfelt good wishes saying that Christmas was a celebration of the eternal and omnipresent values of Compassion, Forgiveness and Universal Love that Lord Jesus – the son of God, stood for - the values of “Love of God and Neighbours”, “Fidelity”, “Renunciation of Vengeance and worldly goods” and “Forgiveness” that inspired Swami Vivekananda to say, “Had I lived in Palestine in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, I would have washed his feet, not with my tears, but with my heart’s blood”. The emergence of religions in the history of evolution of mankind raised the level of human consciousness from mere survival to spiritual directing human endeavours towards the three basic tenets of Truth, Compassion and Righteousness - tenets that comprised the Ram Rajya of Hinduism, Dharma of Buddhism, and the Kingdom of God concept of Christianity. The civilizational history of mankind was not a history of struggle between classes, religions, castes or gender but a struggle between the universal good and its antithesis wherein it was always the former that won. Aberrations of a crusade, a jihad or violent struggles between sects in India, were always defeated in the favour of the reign of brotherhood, peace and resultant prosperity. Though we are going through troubled times of divisive tendencies, intolerance and prejudiced “fear of the other”, considering the composite and yet diverse nation that we are for over 5000 years of co-existence, acceptance, adaptation and assimilation, it is my considered belief that this, like in the past, is a temporary phase. India and Indians will tenaciously fight this in order to once again establish our unique national identity which has emerged out of our civilizational values and remains etched ever so clearly in the Constitution of India. We are a nation of 1.3 billion people who use more than 122 languages, 1600 dialects, practice 7 major religions, belong to 3 major ethnic groups – Caucasians, Mongoloids, and Dravidians and yet live under one system, one flag and one identity. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru so vividly expressed in the ‘Discovery of India’, “India is a geographical and economic entity, a cultural unity amidst diversity, a bundle of contradictions held together by strong but invisible threads. Overwhelmed again and again, her spirit was never conquered and she remains unsubdued and unconquered. About her illusive quality of a legend of long ago some enchantment seems to have held her mind. She is a myth and an idea, a dream and a vision and yet real and present and pervasive”. There can be many conflicting visions of the idea of India, but we can all agree that India is a truly beautiful idea that very naturally encompasses all its conflicting visions.
The most enduring image of the Catholic Church in India are the crores of Indians, irrespective of religion, who get educated in the schools and colleges set up by the Church and millions of patients who get treated in their hospitals. The Catholic Church in India is personified by the Priests or nuns in habit, whose very image brings to one’s mind, discipline and dedication. It is the heartening images of the Missionaries of Charity led by Mother Teresa, tending to the last person on the margin of society that personifies the Church in India. Having existed in India for more than 2000 years, when St. Thomas, one of the twelve Disciples of Christ came and settled here, Christianity has been more Renaissance and Reformation and rarely about Evangelism. Indigenization, adaptation and respect of local customs and traditions have made Christianity as Indian a religion as the ones that originated in its ancient geographical boundaries.
He said that the most important thought he wanted to share at this Christmas time, was that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the propaganda, our Constitution, one of the best in the world, has provided us many rights and freedoms - freedom to practice and propagate our religion, freedom to set up our educational institutions, to choose any occupation - all these are important and must be safeguarded. This is the bedrock of our democracy and the foundation for our growth. Further, as the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray, asking God to forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us, let us share this message of forgiveness with all those around us. Becoming tolerant and compassionate people, let us keep anger and hatred away, let us not allow the poison of division to soil the very heart of India. Birth of Jesus brought Joy and peace, let that joy and peace be in our hearts, in our homes, in our neighbourhood and fill our nation, he concluded.
A statue of Baby Jesus was presented to the Chief Guest. Rev. Fr. Jervis D’Souza, the Deputy Secretary General, CBCI proposed the vote of thanks. The programme concluded with the singing of the National Anthem.
Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas
Secretary General, CBCI
December 13, 2018