Mgr Barwa: in conflict-torn Odisha, may Christmas be peaceful and joyful
The Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar released his Christmas message. Although the memory of the 2008 anti-Christian persecutions is still alive, the faith has become stronger. Odisha Christians have been blessed with countless graces: 2016 has seen a growth in vocations.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – For Christmas, Mgr John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, and the Christians of his diocese hope for a peaceful and joyful Christmas in conflict-torn Odisha (Orissa). Despite the hardships and the still vivid memory of the anti-Christian pogrom, 2016 saw an increase in vocations, improved education and greater solidarity among Christian denominations. The outgoing year was also blessed with Mother Teresa’s canonisation. In Odisha, she was honoured with a street named after her. Here is the archbishop’s Christmas message.
Christmas speaks of the incredible mystery and majesty of God’s love and hope for humanity who came to earth in the form of a baby, destined to die for sin and reconcile people to him. Christmas celebrates this long prophesied incarnation, historical fact, a salvific event and the universal truth. Let the Child Jesus be born in our hearts to make us happy, so that we can make others happy.
Eight years ago, during this time, our communities in Kandhamal had to go through the burning furnace of communal violence, a horrific holocaust, with dignity and nobility, with stoicism and serenity and sacrificed their lives and liberties unparalleled in the history of Odisha. However, we must draw our strength from Jesus Christ, Our Lord and have faith in the words of St. Tertullian, a Second Century Father of the Church, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”.
2016 ends with a Big THANK YOU to Our Lord for His immense favours and innumerable graces showered on our Archdiocese, especially in the wake of the announcement by Holy Father Francis as the Great Jubilee Year of Mercy. During this year we witnessed an expanded evangelization, increased vocations to Priesthood and Religious life, extended school education, enlarged Churches and related institutions and greater inter-denominational solidarity. Most important, all our efforts coincided and culminated in the canonization of Mother Teresa to Holy Sainthood, following which the Satyanagar-Bomikhal Road was officially inaugurated as St. Mother Teresa Road by Hon’ble Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha.
Accordingly, I find, in God, there is endless kindness and inexhaustible compassion and we must pray that in difficult moments we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great courage, conviction and confidence surrender ourselves unhesitantly to His Holy Will, which itself is His Love and Mercy. The call of the hour and the challenges for us during the year, however, are enlarged youth engagement in spiritual exercises, greater unity inside and ecumenism among the churches, in interactive discourses, social services and devout worships, through community dynamics, that would provide us ample opportunities to live in the Lord.
During these times of social contradictions, development disparities, ethical devaluations and consumeristic proclivities, I wish you all, a Prayerful and Joyful Christmas and a Secure and Sustainable New Year amidst harmony and dignity. I also pray that 2017 will be a great stepping stone for rising high in the ladder of holiness, happiness, peace and prosperity for your families, friends, relatives and neighbours, clergy and the laity, old and the young, rich and poor, healthy and sick, men and women, nay, everyone in Odisha, without distinction of caste or creed, religion or faith.
May our lord bless you all so that we may be a blessing to all others of the state of Odisha, India and the world!!!
May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, the gladness of Christmas give you hope, and the warmth of Christmas grant you love!!!
* Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar
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