Mumbai: Card. Gracias celebrate a Christmas of mercy among tribal migrants

In Mumbai there are about 80 thousand tribal. Their conditions are precarious. They are often victims of exploitation and marginalization. Even the holy family was refused at the inn, but found "refuge in a stable in Bethlehem, full of hospitality that radiated from the shepherds great heart."

 

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, will celebrate Christmas with tribal migrants of his diocese. The cardinal, who is also president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), has already decided to devote the pastoral service to the spiritual care of the many migrants who live and work in Mumbai, often in precarious conditions and exploitation.

In the capital of Maharashtra in all about 80 thousand tribal live originally from the Chota Nagpur plateau, a region that lies between the states of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. They emigrated because of a lack of employment opportunities or to escape poverty. They live in undignified housing conditions, accept menial jobs to survive, women are often victims of abuse, children are marginalized by the companions of the wealthy class. Here is the Cardinal’s Christmas message of the.

Each year the Christmas greetings not only impart good wishes and hopes for  us all, but they also hold out to us something of the stories of Mercy lived, loved and experienced in ministries across the world that flow from the Infant Child Divine.

The paradox of Christmas is captured in the homeless family that found that there was no room in the Inn, but could find it in a small dingy backroom stable in Bethlehem, replete with the abundance of hospitality radiating from the large hearts of shepherds and wise searchers, who were sensitive to the deeper meaning of God in the Infant lying in the manger.

When does the work of Christmas begin?
When the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins:
It begins when we heal the broken hearted with the touch of God’s Mercy : when we feed the hungry, when we bring the promise of hope, the forgiving  love and the restoring compassion of God to those crippled with fear of terror, plagued with the  anxiety of uncertainty  and imprisoned in darkness of sin and death.
 

Those who have visited Mother Teresa’s crèches for vulnerable infants in the ‘crib’ of her homes for the handicapped and shelters for the suffering in the year of Mercy, testified that they were spurred to generously offer their gifts, but more than anything else were edified and touched by the words of the Missionaries of Charity: Thank you so much for helping us find resources so we can bring God's mercy to the suffering people.

Bringing God’s mercy to a suffering people is at the core of the Christmas story. To re-member the Christmas story is to bring hope to a world in need. In the words of Pope Francis: Always keep hope alive. Demonstrate that with welcome and hospitality a window to the future can be offered.

In this season of Christmas of gift-giving and receiving, may we be richly blessed and may we continue in the aftermath of the year of Mercy to serve one another with the gifts we have received from Him.

May the Mercy and Grace of the Infant Jesus fill your hearts with Peace, Love and Joy this Christmas.

X Oswald Cardinal Gracias

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