secular citizen vol.23 no.51 dated 22nd december 2014

1December 22, 2014 Bumper X’mas Issue 2014

2 December 22, 2014Bumper X’mas Issue 20142 December 22, 2014Bumber X’mas Issue 2014

Mr. Surendra Chauhan – + 91 9833223631Mr. Mukesh Devle – + 91 98202 12154 / + 91 99306 99983

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Creating future leaders in the community through the project:

‘Leaders in the Makingand

Reaching to the Top’Youth are the pillars upon which a nation’s future is built. It is true that in this challenging era ofglobalisation, our youth must be nurtured, educated and guided towards the right path. There is a needfor the youth of our community to strengthen their faith by adopting the right mindset and acquiring awealth of knowledge.

With this objectives in mind we have been conducting special youth seminars entitled ‘Leaders in theMaking and Reaching to the Top’ since 10 years. So far over 8000 youth have participated and benefitedin the 12 seminars which have been guided by expert resource persons. Guiding our youth as effectivefuture leaders and shine in top positions within and outside the country is our dream which we want toturn it into reality, The Entire project is conducted absolutely Free for the participants.

Our forthcoming Seminar will be held from 9.00 A.M. to 4.30 P.M.on 11th January 2015 at St. John School Ground, Pangala - Shankarapura, Udupi Diocese.

Over 1000 youth is expected to participate from the entire Diocese

Catholic Sabha, Shankarapura UnitCommission for Youth, Udupi:

ICYM/YCS/YSM

Parish Priest and the Organising Committee,St. John the Evangelist Church,

Pangala, Shankarapura, UdupiMedia Partner:

Organised by:DIVO and The Secular Citizen

99, Perin Nariman Street, Fort, Mumbai 400001Tel.: 22693578, 22654924

Supported and Assisted by:

Lawrence CoelhoEditor

Rev. Fr. Leslie D’SouzaParish Priest, Pangala

Dr. Edward Loboon behalf of Organising Committee

The Event will be graced byMost Rev. Dr. Gerald Isaac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi DioceseMr. Vinaya Kumar Sorake, Hon. Minister for Urban Development, Govt. of KarnatakaMr. Ivan D’Souza, MLC, Govt. of KarnatakaRt. Rev. Msgr. Baptist Menezes - Vicar General, Udupi Diocese

The Resource persons:Mr. Albert W. D’Souza, Businessman, Educationist and BankerDr. Gerald Pinto, Prof. and Head of the Dept., Milares College, KallianpurRev. (Dr.) Ronald Cutinha, Director : Samanwaya, MangaloreDr. Thomas J. Quadros, Principal: Glowin Star Integrated School, UdupiProf. (Rtd.) Mrs. Hilda Rodrigues


PharmaceuticPharmaceuticPharmaceuticPharmaceuticPharmaceuticals Lals Lals Lals Lals Leadership Aeadership Aeadership Aeadership Aeadership Award 2010ward 2010ward 2010ward 2010ward 2010

Shri Joseph D’Souza Chairman, Osworld Scientific Equipments Pvt. Ltd.receiving the Award from the Governor Of Maharashtra on 26th June 2010


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5


RNI No. 56987/92Registered No. MH/MR/South-139/2012-14

There will be no issue

dated 29-12-2014.Our next issue will be

dated 05-01-2015(i.e. Vol.24 No.1)

—Publisher

Contents

A National FAMILY weeklyA National FAMILY weeklyA National FAMILY weeklyA National FAMILY weeklyA National FAMILY weekly

Vol.23 No.51 December 22, 2014 Rs.20/-99, Perin Nariman Street, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.

Tel: 2269 35 78 / 2265 49 24, 2264 0996E-mail : [email protected],[email protected]

Website: www.secularcitizen.comwww.sezariworld.com

Editor-in-chief : LAWRENCE COELHOEditor: PHILIP MYABOO

THE SECUALR CITIZENTeam

Wishes Readers, Patrons,Friends, Well-wishers,

Contributorsand

Advertisers

Merry Christmas&

A Peace Filled HappyNew Year 2015

Christmas: Giving Made Easy! Ladislaus L. D'Souza 14

Mysterious Star of Bethlehem ... A. A. Nazareth 15

Joy Born At Bethlehem Melville X. D'Souza 16

Christmas -God in the Ordinary Rev. Fr. Anil Rego 17

Christmas Hospitality Fr. George Olivera,ofm 18

Joy to the Worldr Leon Bent 21

Christmas: A Time to Love Jubel D'Cruz 22

2015 ....New Beginnings Ella Almeida 23

Environment Friendly World Faith Basit 24

Let us Choose This Christmas Don Aguiar 26

Away for Christmas Irwin Almeida 28

That Time Of The Year Again Ninette D'Souza 29

Falling Standards in Catholic ... Joseph M. Dias, S.J. 30

Christmas: Incredible And ... Melvin Brown 32

The Art of Keeping Christmas 33

Santa's Gifts Vera Alvares 34

Indians The Innovators ... Francis Lobo 36

How Christmas Developed Jubel D'Cruz 38

Christmas Tree - The tree of ... Dr. Trevor Colaso 39

The Treth Behind Misleading... Agnelo Rodrigues 40

The Christmas Candle Peter Castellino 42

"Be Glad, Rejoice, Rediate Joy... Dr. Tregvor Colaso 44

Christmas Saga (Poem) S. Gaikwad 45

How to talk with God? 46

Santa vs Jesus: What do your ... 47

Christmas and the Eucharist Capt. Mervin J. Lobo 48

Festival of Joy Jubel D'Cruz 49

The Christmas Holly Peter Castellino 50

Just-A-Pause: The Presen(ts)ce... Arlene Clarence 51

Many Meanings of Christmas Capt. Mervin J. Lobo 52

12 Little Known Laws of Karma... 56

The Computer Won't Turn On? Agnelo Rodrigues 58

Christmas - Songs in the Night Denis Khan 60

14 December 22, 2014Bumper X’mas Issue 2014

It’s Christmas! The great feast of God-with-us! In the Church’s Liturgicalscheme of things, it is Easter that

holds pride of place. And rightly so! Foras Paul succinctly points out, had Christnot risen from the dead, our faith wouldbe in vain (1 Cor 15:17) and, if one mayadd, our celebration of Christmas per sewould be meaningless, too. Yet, there’sso much about Christmas that can leadus to a Spirit-filled celebration of ourFaith itself! Strangely, amidst the glitterof tinsel and stars and the cacophony ofcarols and drumbeats, we tend to missout on a tremendously significant as-pect of this holy season, viz. GIVING.

God created the world and placedit in the safe-keeping of Man, His veryown representation as it were.But man botched up the divinetrust and did exactly what hewas commanded not to do, inthe process, sullying theCreator’s representation. Un-able to bear the ensuing sepa-ration, He set in motion a sav-ing plan that commenced withthe fiat of Mary, the ImmaculateConception, leading to the In-carnation, and culminating in the Pas-sion-Death-Resurrection of His only-be-gotten Son, Jesus Christ, the SecondPerson of the Blessed Trinity. Christ-mas, therefore is a celebration of life.

What man, asks Jesus, would givehis child a snake when asked for somefish, or a stone when asked for bread (Lk11:11)? When man was deprived of thecomforts of Eden, he did not ask God foranything as such—he dared not, you’dsay! But God knew what he needed.After all, doesn’t Genesis indicate thatman was a spitting image of the Creator(Gen 1:27)? God knew man’s need of asaving gift. Not just any gift would dogiven the vastness of the chasm be-tween Creator and creature, betweengoodness and evil, between Eden andearth. The timeless wait ended with Godfinally giving His all for the redemption ofHis fallen creature – He GAVE his one

and only Son, Jesus who alone couldmend fences and restore sonship toGod’s human creation. Christmas, thus,is a celebration of giving.

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that no one butno one seems to have under-stood better the significance ofthe giving aspect of this epoch-making event that Christmas isthan the ubiquitous SaintFrancis d’Assisi after whom arenamed the largest number ofreligious congregations in theworld and from whom the

present Holy Father takes his Papalname. “Rub the walls with meat - for it’sthe birth of the Saviour!” the littlePoverello is known to have told his fol-lowers. Of course, that one wouldn’tdare dream of doing that in BJP-runIndia is another matter altogether! Butthe fact remains that the immensity ofthe Jesus-gift to humankind was far toounparalleled to be taken lightly. It wasessentially the gift of LOVE, the enormityof whose significance is what lends itselfto the gift-giving so intrinsic to Christ-mas celebrations, even affording thelegendary Santa his due! Christmasthus is a celebration of love.

“Life is a gift from God. To live itaccording to His will is a choice thateach one has to make with the recogni-tion of it as a given gift,” says Father PAnthony Das. Indeed! Of what use is alife that shies away from expressing

God’s will in our life? God making Him-self a gift to a broken world, cannot butchallenge a believer to give withoutceasing, without murmur, not countingthe cost. Jesus says, “In the measurethat you give, you shall receive” (Lk6:38). What bears pondering here iswhat and how our giving at Christmasmust be. Blessed James Alberione, theinitiator of the Pauline Apostolate of theMedia of Social Communications hasthe answer. “LIVE & GIVE TO THEWORLD JESUS, MASTER, THE WAY,THE TRUTH & THE LIFE!” If doing thewill of God in our individual situationinvolves giving to the hilt and thus livingthe Christian life, the challenge is thegreater: Christmas is a celebration ofliving out the giver of life.

The truth is, if we do not live Christ,how can we give Christ? Our giving, inthe context of Christmas, takes on amultifaceted hue. To a family, living andgiving Jesus means honesty and genu-ine care among its members; to a hous-ing society it could mean a willingnessto adjust by way of being cooperative inone’s attitude. To a Small Christian Com-munity living and giving Jesus couldmean avoiding gossip; to the parishbody it could mean a give-and-takespirit, a deep desire on the part of bothparishioners and clergy to listen to theother’s point of view, a willingness andopenness that sidetracks the pre-VaticanII pray-pay-obey mentality. No trying to

CHRISTMAS: Giving Made Easy!

(Contd.. on p. 15)

by Ladislaus LD’Souza


The mysterious star of Bethlehemhas posed a challenge to modern -day scientists even after

2000 years of its appearance to thewise men of the East. Mathew’s gospelmentions 2 sightings of the star---onebefore the wise men from the East setout on their journey , and the other,when nearing their journey’s end, whenthe star they had seen earlier in the eastappeared once again and went aheadof them until it stopped over the placewhere baby Jesus was born.(Mat.2: 9-10). Many stories have been wovenround the mystery which surrounds thiscelestial phenomenon of unique occur-rence, over which scientists have been

battling to offer a satisfactory explana-tion. While some have attributed it to anatural astronomical event, a few oth-ers have evolved their own theories ,only to be disproved later. Haley’s cometis one such theory. Today, the sym-bolic star continues to adorn Christianchurches and cribs the world over, andis prominently displayed in most Chris-tian homes , public avenues and streetcorners to celebrate the great miracleGod worked to herald the birth of thetrue Messiah Jesus Christ and the goodnews of salvation. The star has becomea symbol of enlightenment and joy to allChristians year after year during theChristmas festivities, culminating withthe feast of the Epiphany on January 6.Just as a crib in every home reminds usof the birth of Jesus , the star too shouldremind us that Jesus is the true lightand guide of the world.

While the star of Bethlehemcontinues to baffle astronomers eventoday, the identity of the wise men fromthe east also remains unknown and aquestion mark. Whether these menmentioned in Mathew’s gospel were

three in number , whether they werekings whose names were Casper,Melchior and Balthazar is still uncer-tain except for the scriptures that statesthat they were wise men from the Eastwho travelled to Bethlehem. wor-shipped the child Jesus, and broughttheir gifts of gold, frankincense andmyrrh and presented them to the childJesus.(Mat2:11) The tradition of cel-ebrating the feast of the three kings onJan 6, probably stems from the Psalm72:10-11 which states that ‘the kingsof Sheba and Seba shall bring himofferings , and all kings will bow downbefore him and all nations will servehim’ .Over the years many traditionshave also evolved connected withthese wise men from the East. In somecountries, collections are made forpoor children on the feast of theEpiphany which has come to be cel-ebrated as the feast of the three kings.And even more surprising is the fa-mous shrine of the Holy Magi in Co-logne, revered in memory of thesewise men and which supposedlyhouses their bones.

Mysterious Star Of Bethlehem AndUnknown Wise Men From The East

escape a question by asking a counter-question, or even challenging the otherwith utterances like “I know betterthan you!” “Who are you to ask me?”“You don’t tell me, understand?” Inthe giving that Christmas implies thereis no room for imagining that the dig-nity of one’s status in life precludes thedignity of another’s status, least of allthe dignity of the Eucharist, the ulti-mate expression of the reality of God-become-man. Christmas giving per-force involves leading the flock byway of offering prudent clarificationsof doubts and queries. Christmas thuscomes through as a sign and cel-ebration of mutual understanding.

It is only when our preparationfor the feast of the infant king’s birthhas given us a clear perspective ofChristmas that our GIVING at Christ-mas on every front and in every re-spect reflects the significance of theCreator gift to us all, enabling theSpirit to fill our hearts with the desire toshare with all and sundry the joy of atruly blessed Christmas!

(Contd.. from p. 14)

BY A. F. NAZARETH


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The birth of a baby generally radiates joy around the place and thatfeeling of joy and excitement is

not limited just to those around themother, but it spreads to miles aroundthem, to the relatives and friends, maybegrandparents or great grandparents re-siding in another continent. Everybody’sfaces glow with Joy !

More than 2000 years ago, Jesuswas born in that little town of Bethlehem,in a lonely stable away from the hustleand bustle of the city – indeed, Joy wasborn at Bethlehem that night. And whowas around there to share that Joy ? Notthe relatives or friends of Mary & Jo-seph, but it was the simple farm folk, theshepherds. They must have been filledwith Joy and excited to find a baby bornin their midst. We are told, the angelswith their heavenly choirs, sang,“Glory to God in the highest, and onearth peace to men of goodwill.” But,one who would ask, what was so specialabout that bay born at Bethlehem, in-consequential one who say. Why wouldanybody be afraid of a small baby ? But,we are told that Herod the king of Judeaat that time, was troubled rather shakenwhen he heard of the birth of Jesus.While the Joy born at Bethlehem radi-ated all around, here was one man whowas afraid. He saw Jesus as a threat tohis kingdom – it was foretold , “But you,Bethlehem, in the land of Juda are by nomeans least among the rulers of Judah,for out of you will come a ruler who willshepherd people Israel.” Jesus’ birthhad taken away the Joy out of KingHerod. Jesus the baby, went on tobecome the most important figure inhistory; in fact , he has rewritten History.Today, that Joy has spread across thewhole world. We celebrate that Joy yearafter year, at Christmas time. That Joy isreflected in the decoration we put up inour homes, that Joy is refected in theCrib, Christmas Star & the ChristmasTree set up in our homes and in ourlocalities; in the new clothes that wewear, parties, gifts, etc., etc. it’s all a

celebration of Joy !We are living in a troubled world

today. If we have lost our peace of mindtoday, it is because we have killed thatJoy Born at Bethlehem. More than 2000years ago, King Herod tried to kill thatJoy born at Bethlehem when he orderedthe killing of all two year old male chil-dren in and around Bethlehem, after hefound that he had been outwitted by thethree wise men. Today, we have killedthat Joy with our behaviour - jealousy,greed in our relations with others insociety, in our own families, bitterness,anger, resentment, cheating, theft, ha-rassment, etc. Many a time, Love formoney and property takes precedenceover everything else. Jesus comes tosoothe this troubled world; he invitesus to be part of that Joy !

So great was the magnetic pull ofJesus’ birth at Bethlehem, that threewise men from the east undertook thatjourney, to visit the baby Jesus in thatlowly stable, bringing along with themexpensive gifts. They decided to par-take of the Joy that was born atBethlehem. We do not need to go to faroff places to experience that Joy ofJesus’ birth - Jesus offers us His Loveright where we are, in our hearts.

While we continue partaking of thatJoy, born at Bethlehem more 2000 yearsago, we need to ask ourselves whetherthe only way we should be celebratingthat Joy is by decorating our homes,putting up decorative stars, Christmastrees, innovative cribs, etc., etc. All thatis fine, yes, but we need to understand

the true meaning of Christmas, andthat is, LOVE. In fact, that is a Free GiftGod gave to us. What would be our giftto Jesus on His birthday ? He came togive us His Love and show us what Loveis all about. We need to reciprocatethat Love - in our everyday life, in ourdealings with others in society, withmembers of our own family. If wecannot love one another, then weshall never really experience that Joy,we are not worthy of celebratingChristmas. Our Christmas celebra-tions would be meaningless. Let’spartake of that Joy born at Bethlehemin the right manner and make Christ-mas truly meaningful !

Joy Born At Bethlehem

BY MELVILLE X.D’SOUZA


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A writer for the ‘Washington Post’once conducted an experimentto test people’s awareness and

realization of a truth. He requestedJoshua Bell, a famous violinist , to playhis 3.5 million dollar Stradivarius at atrain station one cold January morning.Thousands of people walked past, withonly a few who stopped to listen. Afterabout an hour , this violinist collectedonly $34 in his open violin case. Twodays earlier, people had paid $100 aseat to hear Joshua Bell perform at asold out concert.

Nobody realized or recognizedJoshua’s greatness as a violinist be-cause people did not expect such amusician to play at a railway station.JESUS too was not recognized 2000yrs ago by the people of His time, whenHe was born in Bethlehem in a manger.Though the Jews were expecting aMessiah, It was not in the capital of theempire or in the palaces of a king thatChrist was born. But in an impover-ished dwelling in a small town, to iden-tify Himself with EVERY PERSON. Toteach us to find God, not in the excep-tional, but in the unexceptional, notonly at sacred heights but also in lowly

dwellings - not only in temples,mosques, churches, and gurudwaras,but in every human being and in every-day human life.

He came not to a throne, but to amanger

He lived not as a king, but as a servantHe chose not an earthly kingdom, but

a crossHe gave not a little, but everything

….Holley Gerth

The good news to be shared by allis that in Christ, God is here. It is themystery of God becoming Man of Godnow with us. No one however poor orforsaken, destitute or homeless, sor-rowing or burdened is excluded fromGod’s infinite love and compassion.Because our God Himself experience awretched poverty and a cold rejectionat His birth in Bethlehem. By doing this,He broke all barriers between heavenand earth and between man and man.The Lord’s birth brought God to man.

Fr. Anil Rego,Parish Priest, Nativity of

our Lord Church, Kandivli.

And the Lord’s death on the crossbrought man to God.

As we light up stars, our Christmastrees and our houses this Christmas,may we also seek to light up the heartsof the troubled and forsaken, the lessfortunate and the dejected. May webecome channels of peace, bringinglove where there is hatred and consola-tion where there is injury, so that thisChristmas, we may not merely besharers of peace, but architects of peacein this troubled world.

When the song of the angels isstilled. When the star in the sky is gone.When shepherds are back with theirflocks. The work of Christmas begins… To find the lost, to heal the broken, tofeed the hungry, to release theprisoner…In the hearts Christ is borntoday, and there he lives & dies…Leteveryday be Christmas in your life..

CHRISTMAS – God In The Ordinary


Fr. George Olivera,OFM Cap., Mysore

HospitalityBusiness Style

I came across a list of service com-mandment – somewhat business typemanner but aptly summarises the busi-ness style hospitality today. These arethe ten service commandments in star-styled Hotel Industry: Top Ten ServiceCommandments are: 1) Sincerely greetguests within 2 minutes of seating; 2)Determine if the guest is visiting for thefirst time; 3) Deliver good food... fast...and right; 4) Follow the “Today I’mfeaturing” table sales method ; 5) Al-ways suggest a beverage complement;6) Hot food hot, and cold food cold; 7)Check back within 2 bites, 2 sips, or 2minutes; 8) If you receive a complaint,you own it; 9) Personally hand write a“Thank you” on the guest check; 10)Always invite guests to return.

As per the graded hotels the hospi-tality is bartered with Cash with taxesand conditions apply note. It isan exclusive welcome for theexclusive group. Entry re-stricted with Formal Wear!Empty Pockets make poorhospitality care! Plastic Cur-rency is always welcome forfive-style to seven-star treatHospitality!

H o s p i t a l i t yChristian Style

Hospitality is an in-wordin contemporary Society. Ho-tel Business Managementflourishes on Hospitality Concept. Ev-ery service is charged and priced highly.Everything is taxed and levied as per theThee Star, Five Star and Seven StarBrand mode of Hospitality. But in theEconomy of Salvation, God’s Hospital-ity is absolutely free and unlimited. It isaddressed to the whole Humanity. It isan all-inclusive concept based on Di-vine Agape. All are Welcome.

Hospitality as Christian Praxis isthe lifestyle of every Christian. St. JohnChrysostom exhorts us: Lift up andstretch out your hands, not to heaven

but to the poor; for ifyou stretch out yourhands to the poor, youhave reached the sum-mit of heaven. But ifyou lift up your handsin prayer without shar-ing with the poor, it isworth nothing ... Everyfamily should have aroom where Christ iswelcomed in the per-son of the hungry andthirsty stranger. Thepoor are a greatertemple than the sanc-

tuary; this altar the poor, you can raiseup anywhere, on any street, and offerthe liturgy at any hour.”

The following is an illustration fromDesert Spirituality which is closer to theGospel times and relevant for our timesbecause it represents the heart of Chris-tian Hospitality: When Abba Agathonwent down to the city to sell some of hisbaskets and to procure a little bread, hefound near the market place an old,

poor cripple.“For the love of God, Abba,” the

cripple began to plead on seeing theSaint, “don’t you, too, leave this poorwretch unaided. Bring me near to you.”

Abba Agathon picked the man upand sat him next to him in the placewhere he had set up his baskets to sellthem.

‘How much money did you make,Abba?’ the cripple would ask each timethat the Elder sold a basket.

“Such and such,” the Elder wouldtell him.

“That’s good enough,” the cripplefinally said. “Won’t you buy me a littlepie, Abba? That would be good of you,since I have not eaten since last evening.”

“With pleasure,” the Saint told him,immediately fulfilling the cripple’s re-quest.

Shortly thereafter, the cripple re-quested some fruit. And then somesweet. Thus, for each basket that wassold, the Saint spent the proceeds, until,thanks to his patronage, all of the bas-kets and money were gone, without hishaving kept even two pennies for him-self. More importantly, he did this all

Christmas Hospitality

(Contd.. on p. 19)


with great eagerness, even though heknew that he would thus go perhaps twoweeks without any bread for himself.

Since he had sold his last basket,the Saint got ready to leave the market-place.

“So you’re going?” the crippleasked him.

“Yes, I have completed all of mywork.”

“Uh, do me the favor of taking meas far as the crossroads, and you canleave for the desert from there,” thestrange old man again pleadingly said.

The good Agathon took the crippleon his back and carried him to the placewhere he wanted to go, though withgreat difficulty, since he was exhaustedfrom his day’s work.

As soon as he reached the cross-roads and started to put down his livingburden, he heard a sweet voice say tohim:

“May you be blessed, Agathon, byGod, both on earth and in Heaven.”

The Saint raised up his eyes to seewho it was who had spoken with him.The would-be old man had completelydisappeared, since he was an Angelsent by God to test the Saint’s love.

According to Joan D. Chittister:Hospitality means we take people intothe space that is our lives and our mindsand our hearts and our work and ourefforts. Hospitality is the way we comeout of ourselves. It is the first steptowards dismantling the barriers of theworld. Hospitality is the way we turn aprejudiced world around, one heart at atime.

For Henri Nouwen, The Germanword for hospitality is Gastfreundschftwhich means friendship for the guest....It means the creation of a free spacewhere the stranger can enter and be-come a friend instead of an enemy.

In our world full of strangers, es-tranged from their own past, culture andcountry, from their neighbors, friends,and family, from their deepest self andtheir God, we witness a painful searchfor a hospitable place where life can belived without fear and where communitycan be found.

Hospitality, therefore, means pri-marily the creation of a free space wherethe stranger can enter and become afriend instead of an enemy. Hospitalityis not to change people, but to offerthem a space where change can takeplace.

Hospitality is the virtue which al-lows us to break through the narrow-ness of our own fears and to open ourhouses to the stranger, with the intuitionthat salvation comes to us in the form ofa tired traveler. Hospitality makes anx-ious disciples into powerful witnesses,makes suspicious owners into gener-ous givers, and makes close-mindedsectarians into interested recipients ofnew ideas and insights.

HospitalityChristmas Style

Christmas is a festival of DivineHospitality. During Christmas God be-comes Human so that we could fullyshare his Divinity. According to St.Nikolai of the Orthodox Saint: With theGod-man Christ, all that is God‘s hasbecome man‘s, human, ours, so thateach of us individually and all of usassembled together in the Divine-hu-man body of Christ, the Church, mightbecome god-men, having attained tothe perfect man, to the measure of thestature of the fullness of Christ‘ (Eph4:12-13). Therefore Christmas, the dayof the birth of the God-man, the LordJesus Christ, is the greatest and mostimportant day in the history of all theworlds in which man moves and lives.(St. Nikolai Velimirovich).

In one Parish Fr. Joe Andrew left alist of Ten Commandments to the Con-gregation to celebrate Christmas. Theyare truly inspiration for our Celebrationof Christmas for this year and for everyyear. These are following command-ments to make Hospitality ChristmasStyle: 1.You shall not leave ‘Christ’ out ofChristmas, making it ‘Xmas’. Christ isthe reason for the season; 2. You shallprepare your soul for Christmas. Spendnot so much on gifts that your soul is

forgotten (a good confession is a niceway to prepare your hear for Christ-mas); 3. You shall not let Santa Clausreplace Christ, thus robbing the day ofits spiritual reality. (Prepare yourself withprayer and the Word of God); 4.Youshall not neglect your church. Its ser-vices highlight the true meaning of theseason; 5. You shall not neglect theneedy. Share they blessings with themany who will go hungry and cold un-less you are generous; 6. You shall notneglect thy family during this season.You shall not forget the elderly andthose who are lonely at Christmas time;7. You shall not value gifts received bytheir cost. Even the least expensive maysignify love, and that is more pricelessthan silver and gold. You shall giveyourself with your gift. This will increaseits value a hundred fold, and he whoreceives it shall treasure it forever; 8.You shall prepare your home with Christ-mas symbols (the crib, Christmas car-ols, the Advent wreath, the star, theangels, the Christmas tree, etc.); 9. Youshall be as a little child. Not until youhave become in spirit as a little one areyou ready to enter into the kingdom ofHeaven. 10. You shall give your heart toChrist. Let Him be at the top of yourChristmas list.

Hospitality ParishStyle

In his Book Reaching Out, he de-scribes our life is a process of reachingout from Illusions to Prayer; reachingout from Loneliness to Solitude andreaching out from hostility to hospitality.

Our Parish community and fellow-ship at times could be a reaching outfrom hostility to hospitality. One de-scription of the parish church’s move-ment between hostility and hospitalitylooks like this.

HOSTILITY: Characteristics of aparish in, or set up for, hostility.

Parish life could be impatient, frus-trated, busy, rushed, fearful, aggres-sive, passive. Parish life is crowded withthings to do, events, expectations, pres-sure


(Contd.. on p. 20)


Parish life could be struggle frompain and death, stillness and silence. Inthe Parish new people as a danger tothe way we are; or to be used for parishneeds (pledges, volunteers). Also thereis little ability to manage disagreementsand conflict etc.

HOSPITALITY:Characteristics of aparish living inhospitality

It would be receptive, safe bound-aries, question and experiment withoutfear; It invites openness while honoringuniqueness and it touches pain anddeath with compassion; Hospitality seesthe parish as a space in which peoplemight be changed. In ministry of Hospi-tality, the Parish Community welcomes

everyone with open arms and celebratesChristian Fellowship.

The movement into increased hos-pitality is a decision made by individualsand parish communities that takes formin rituals and habits of hospitality, astance of kindness and welcome, andspontaneous acts rising out of the Spirit’smovement within us.

These are another motivational in-spiration celebrate Hospitality duringthis Christmas Season: SandyCoughlin’s Ten Commandments of Hos-pitality; 1.Hospitality is not about you.It’s about making others feel warm andwelcome; 2.Plan ahead, be organized,and know your recipe. Learn to del-egate; 3.Set the mood. Keep ambienceand the five senses in mind; 4.Avoidperfectionism. Put fear aside — it’s arobber of anything good; 5.Share con-versation. Foster friendships by keep-ing things real; 6. Demonstrate thrifti-ness. Buying things at cost or learningto pinch pennies makes entertainingattainable on a budget. 7. Don’t apolo-


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gize. It’s OK to make mistakes. Learn tonot bring them to light in front of yourguests; it robs your guests of relaxation;8. Be creative. Use what you have. Keepthings simple; 9. Learn from others.Find mentors and learn to find a healthybalance and keep things real; 10. Lifeimpact is everything. Experience inti-macy and meaning in sharing a mealand gleaning from others’ lives.

Celebrate Christmas with Hospi-tality in a Christian Style. Wishing you aBlessed Christmas 2014 and Grace-filled New Year 2015.


It is in silence that we begin to godeeper and deeper into that innerstorehouse of joy. It is in silence that

we go to the place where sound origi-nates. Silence is stronger than words.Silence is a powerful environment fortransformation.

Joy has the ability to open our hearts,remove fear, instil hope and fosterhealing. Joy helps us to dance lightlywith the difficult dramas of life. As ourjoy expands we feel deeply connectedto ourselves, others, and somethingor “Someone” infinitely bigger thanourselves.

Jesus was born on a “Silent Night, HolyNight.” Silence and holiness poured outlike a fountain which cradled the infantJesus. The four lyrics are a form ofconfession of faith, prophecy, praiseand a shout of “hallejuah.”

The first song was chanted by sixwinged seraphs before the heavenlythrone: “Holy, holy, holy Lord God ofHosts, the whole earth is full of yourglory” (Isa. 6:3). There is another ver-sion quoted in Luke 2:14: “Glory toGod in the highest and peace to men ofgoodwill,” which were an invitation forthe Shepherds, as they listened in thestillness of the night. Abraham Heshelsays, “No words more magnificent haveever been uttered.” These songs arecharged with Spirit-power and containthe joyful celebration of belief in theevent of salvation, and contain the Christ-mas Liturgy in embryonic form.

Then follows “The Magnificat,” (Lk. 1:46-55) Mary’s bitter-sweet canticle! Shepoints to a new way of seeing Godand a fresh way of looking at theworld and history. It signifies kairos:the new epoch of the Kingdom of Godthat is still unfolding. Mary experi-

ences God in His very depths; shehad a vision like Isaiah of theAlmighty’s majesty and glory. Mary is“full of grace” and from this truth springjoy and exultation. “My spirit rejoices...:”The joy of divine work, a joy of pure andgratuitous praise. Her song is full of fire,inspired by the Spirit. It is the Virgin’shymn of perfect purity. The latter half ofthe “The Magnificat” expresses in sharpforthrightness, Mary was so filled withGod that, it led to the greatest raptureand incredible abandonment.

From verse 51 onwards, Mary de-scribes a pulling down of the high andmighty, and a radical reversal ofhumankind’s positions. God will re-ject the proud, powerful and rich, andwelcome the humble, the poor andthe hungry. The Incarnation came fromMary’s humility, meekness, weaknessand poverty.

Thirdly, at Jesus’ Presentation in theTemple (2: 29-32), Simeon, moved bythe Holy Spirit cried out in delight that,Christ would be “a Light for the Gentilesand glory to his People, Israel.” The“Gloria” and the “Nunc Dimittis” con-templates the Saviour himself. ThePresentation is truly the Meeting Feast.Not only is it so between Simeon andChrist, but through them, betweenthe Law and the Gospel, and between

the Old and New Testaments. Christis the “Light of the Nations:” Salvationis universal in its destination, but it“comes from the Jews” (cf. Jn.4:22).

The fourth song, the canticle of Zechariah(Lk.67-79), is also known as“Benedictus.” Zechariah filled with theSpirit, sang a thanksgiving chant to Godbecause He has been faithful to Hispromises (Jn.3:16), to send His Son toredeem man from the snares of sin anddeath.

Christmas celebrates God’s love andforgiveness for humanity. This Christ-mas, let us share more than cards,gifts, carols, sweets and festivity. Aswe greet people, “Merry Christmas”we can share with them God’s joy andforgiveness. The love for us in Jesusis fantastic: forgiving, merciful, re-deeming and mind-blowing mercy. Itis a call to holiness for God loves uswith tender passion.

To experience Jesus we must take the“Child” into our arms, and hold himclose to our hearts. Christmas is not justthe festivity of the joy of humans. It isalso the exuberance of God’s scintillat-ing joy.

And, this flourish – G.K.Chestertonsaid: “When man gives God a Holyday, God gives man a Holiday!”

Joy to the World Leon Bent


What a wonderfulgift God hasgiven us -- His

only Son Jesus Christ! Thisis the ultimate proof of Hislove. As the Christmas sea-son dawns near and bringsus hope, I would like toshare with the readers of‘The Secular Citizen’, amoving story called ‘The Gold Wrap-ping Paper’.

Once upon a time, there was aman who worked very hard just to keepfood on the table for his family. Thisparticular year a few days before Christ-mas, he punished his little five-year-olddaughter after learning that she hadused up the family's only roll of expen-sive gold wrapping paper. As money was tight, he became evenmore upset when on Christmas Eve hesaw that the child had used up all of theexpensive gold paper to decorate oneshoe box she had put under the Christ-mas tree. He also was concerned aboutwhere she had gotten money to buywhat was in the shoe box.

Nevertheless, the next morning thelittle girl, filled with excitement, broughtthe gift box to her father and said, "Thisis for you, daddy!" As he opened thebox, the father was embarrassed by hisearlier overreaction, now regretting howhe had punished her.

But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and againhis anger flared. "Don't you know, younglady," he said harshly, "when you givesomeone a gift, there's supposed to besomething inside the package!"

The little girl looked up at him withsad tears rolling from her eyes andwhispered, "Daddy, it's not empty. Iblew kisses into it until it was all full.."The father was crushed on hearing this.He fell down on his knees and put hisarms around his precious little daugh-ter. He begged her to forgive him for his

unnecessary anger.Only a short time later an accident

took the life of the child and she died. Itis told that the father kept this little goldbox by his bedside for all the years ofhis life. Whenever he was discouragedor faced difficult problems, he wouldopen the box, take out an imaginarykiss, and remember the love of thisbeautiful child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us hasbeen given an invisible golden box filledwith unconditional love and kisses fromGod. There is no more precious pos-session anyone could hold than the

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belief that God sent His Only Son JesusChrist into this world for our salvation.As we get ready to celebrate this glori-ous day, on Christmas let us absorband share the real spirit of the festival.This is a time to share unconditionallove, joy and sharing. This is a time toreflect on our values that govern ouractions. This is an occasion to promisethat Christmas does not remain merelya festival that we celebrate once in ayear, but that it becomes a state of mindwhere we reiterate and manifest God'slove within our hearts and spread it allaround us.


LORD, we thank You for the years gone by,But we have not lived them to the full,Now for 2015,Please give us NEW BEGINNINGS

In all our weaknesses, we often fell into sin,Even though we did not want to,Now from 2015, Please LORD,Lift us with A NEW BEGINNING.

How lavishly we have spent on clothes!How lavishly on parties!Without a thought for the suffering.From 2015, change our hearts, LOVING LORD,With A NEW BEGINNING.

We have grown crazyFollowing a mad, mad world,In 2015, send enlightenment,We need to step into - A NEW BEGINNING.

Often we think ourselves too busy,No time for Personal Prayer,But if You send us Healing,One tenth of daily time for You,A BLESSED NEW BEGINNING, LORD.

A wrong example in Church,Seeking attention by dress,Pardon LORD, open our eyes,

Change our thinking,With NEW BEGINNINGS, LORD.

Party wear for partiesAnd church wear for Church,Parents can't get this right,The House of God, no house of fashionCreate change of minds, LORD,Opening door of NEW BEGINNINGS.

There are those receiving the EucharistLike chewing their cud,Ashamed to fold hands in reverence,Please give them NEW BEGINNINGS, LORD.

Why display of bossy attitude towards Priests?Criticism must be constructiveWithout arrogance or pride,But with respect due.Bless them LORD with patience,For A NEW BEGINNING

Why only time for selfgratification,No time for those in pain,Letting ourselves be defeated,In more than a thousand ways?LORD, take us once again into Your

embracing LOVEWith NEW BEGINNINGS in 2015

—Ella Almeida

The Year of New BeginningsReturn to God's House

The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spiritwaiting for us with open arms.


Environment Friendly World Faith Basit

There is a sufficiency in the worldfor man’s need but not for man’sgreed.” This quote by Mohandas

K. Gandhi explains the reason why theenvironment we live in has been be-coming a foe to us rather than a friend.It is because we, for our selfish andgreedy requirements have exploited thenature and the environment and did notcare to restore it.

With the goal of environmental protec-tion; UN started in 1972 celebratingWorld Environment Day on 5th Juneevery year . This has grown to becomeone of the main vehicles through whichthe UN stimulates worldwide aware-ness of the environment and encour-ages political attention and action.

Environmental protection is a practiceof protecting the environment, on indi-

vidual, organizational or governmentallevel, for the benefit of the natural envi-ronment and (or) humans. Due to theever increasing population especiallyin the third word countries and technol-ogy, both in the developing and thedeveloped countries, the biophysicalenvironment is being degraded, some-times permanently. This has been rec-ognized and governments have begunplacing restraints on activities thatcaused environmental degradation. Theactivities performed on WED are fo-cussed to this end.

One of the primary causes of environ-mental degradation could be attributedto the rapid growth of population, whichadversely affects the natural resourcesand environment. In some regions therise of the population is very high com-

pared to the resources available whilein some regions the resources are inexcess and plenty. The existence or theabsence of favourable natural resourcescan facilitate or retard the process ofsocio-economic development.

Population growth and economic de-velopment are contributing to many se-rious environmental calamities in theworld and India is no exception to this.These include heavy pressure on landdegradation, forests, habitat destruc-tion and loss of biodiversity. Changingconsumption pattern has led to risingdemand for energy. The final outcomesof this are air pollution, global warming,climate change, water scarcity and wa-ter pollution, soil exhaustion and ero-sion, deforestation, and air pollutionafflicts many areas.

(Contd.. on p. 25)

“


Air pollution is caused from the emis-sions from vehicles and industries. Landpollution can be due to pesticides andfertilizers as well as corrosion. The re-cent calamities in the world i.e. unprec-edented rains and floods, melting of iceglaciers, snow and hurricanes can beattributed to the effects of global warm-ing. The indiscriminate use of wood asa source for energy and the rapidlydisappearing forests due to construc-tion activities have also been respon-sible for environmental degradation.

The harmful effect of environmental deg-radation can be seen on the animalkingdom as well. Zoos are becomingfacsimiles, or perhaps caricatures, ofhow animals once were in their naturalhabitat. If the right policies toward na-ture were pursued, we would need nozoos at all. Migration of birds has alsobeen affected. Now is this not man’sresponsibility to undo the wrong that hehas done to mother earth. To put in the

words of John Drinkwater, “When youdefile the pleasant streams; and thewild bird’s abiding place; you massacrea million dreams; and cast your spittlein God’s face.”

To preserve the face of mother earth,due to the constant efforts of the gov-ernments and people worldwide, atten-tion has now been brought toward thepreservation of nature and the environ-ment around us. Understanding thegravity of the environmental issues asin the words of Albert Einstein, “Weshall require a substantially new man-ner of thinking if mankind is to survive,”academic institutions now offer coursessuch as environmental studies, envi-ronmental management and environ-mental engineering that study the his-tory and methods of environmental pro-tection. Protection of the environmentis needed from various human activi-ties. Waste, pollution, loss ofbiodiversity, introduction of invasivespecies, release of genetically modifiedorganisms and toxics are some of theissues relating to environmental pro-tection.

Through WED, the UN EnvironmentProgramme is able to personalize envi-ronmental issues and enable everyoneto realize not only their responsibility,but also their power to become agents

for change in support of sustainableand equitable development.

On this day a call for action needs to begiven. People can organizeneighbourhood clean-up programmes, and get their community to do thesame, walk to work, start a recyclingdrive, spread the importance of solarenergy, the possibilities are endless.Many villages have taken to the use ofsolar energy, thereby saving other en-ergy resources and containing pollu-tion. In fact Indian solar loan programmehas helped many rural household fortheir energy needs. One can become apart in the celebrations on this day byorganising activities like 1) Arts andcrafts exhibitions/film festivals2)Organising Ceremonies with Celebri-ties 3)Organising Competitions, con-certs and demonstrations to involve thechildren and the youth 3) Distribution ofInfromation kits and conducting onlineand Social media activities 4) UsingMedia to create awareness.

Let’s commit ourselves to the preserva-tion of the nature and environment onthis World Environment Day and be-lieve, as in the words of Brooke Medi-cine Eagle, “There is hope if people willbegin to awaken that spiritual part ofthemselves, that heartfelt knowledgethat we are caretakers of this planet.”


IMAGINEI - InvolvementM - MotivationA - AttitudeG - GrowthE - Excellence

The king can make you aKNIGHT

He cannot make youGENTLEMAN

by Docval Lawman


The first gift of Christmas was asimple gift given by a father to all hischildren, to us. He gave us His son, theChrist He is the gift. This Christmasseason, how will you share the gift?

Christmas is a time of reflection onwhat we can become because of God'ssacred gift. As we discover the gift, welearn of the immeasurable love of Godand our absolute need for a Savior. Aswe embrace the gift, we strengthen ourfaith in Jesus Christ and our desire tobecome more like Him. As we share thegift, we follow in the Master's footsteps,who invited all to hear His message.

Now that the father has given usthis gift, how do we embrace and sharethis gift?

How can we help to bring some reliefto those who are suffering?

Pain, suffering and hardships arenormal ingredients of life. What we mixthem with—fear or faith– makes all thedifference. Jesus did not come to makeus escapists but over-comers. How?

It isn’t necessarily our pain thatcauses us to suffer so acutely but our

tendency to put ourselves down, to viewpain or tragedy as punishment, failure,or proof of our inherent worthlessness.I’ve seen people get stuck in a painfulexperience that happened sixty yearsago. They talk about it as if it happenedlast week.

Your life is so often, spoilt due toyour differences with others. Differenceswith others need not end up with hatred.Differences are just differences, but themoment the mind gives them a nametagof hatred, mind and heart get polluted.For the limited time the gift – JesusChrist – was with us on earth he shunnedhatred in favor of forgiveness and com-passion that brought Him happinessand a sense of satisfaction till the end.

No one can avoid differences, butone has to be alert not to give thenametag and wrap those differenceswith dislike and hatred. This requirespsychological alertness. But to not ex-

pect one to have differences at work andhome is truly being foolish. One shoulddrop this foolishness by wise thinkingand take practical steps to overcomethe negative attitude, just like the gift -Jesus Christ - did.

We are so often a product of soci-ety, human beings are social beings.We are impacted by social expectation.You have to be alert not to be a slave tosociety and at the same time respectsociety. You have to relate intelligentlyto society, least you become a socialslave. When you become a slave tosociety, you are afraid of society. Suchfears will make your life ineffective.

Our community does experiencesuch ineffectiveness. The last few is-sues of the Secular Citizen came outwith two community related issues – LetChildren Choose AND Let the SparkChoose – and requested for your feed-

Let Us Choose This Christmas

Don Aguiar

An advertisement in honor of theChristmas season, titled "He isthe gift," features a video about

the birth of Jesus. The commercializa-tion of Christmas tends to have much ofthe Christian world focusing on the 'busy-ness & happiness' of the holiday sea-son. This time of year can bring stress,worry, and loneliness.

Happiness in the present is not thecriterion of the Christmas season. Theright criterion is whether a person is ableto maintain his happiness and sense ofsatisfaction right to the end of life. Theright formula of life is that which can givea person satisfaction till the end of life byaccepting and sharing this first Christ-mas gift of a father to all his children, tous and not just for a temporary period.

(Contd.. on p. 27)

Let us choose this Christmas that our communitybonds as a united front by accepting and sharing thefirst Christmas gift from a father to his children, to us,to give us the courage to fearlessly speak out anddefend our community members who are under threatfrom...


back, views, response. Most said thatthese articles were very good and some-one needs to bell the cat and nothingelse. Very few choose to respond tothese articles fearlessly speaking outand sharing their views because theywere able to discern the facts and had aclear perception for the betterment ofthe community.

With fear, you will not be able todiscern facts of life. With fear your per-ception will be distorted. Then insteadof the actuality of life only the illusion oflife will be experienced. This very illu-sion is experienced by many in ourcommunity as well. You have to dropfear. Then you will comprehend factsare facts, otherwise fear will distort factsto fit into its manipulations which we seehappening all around us, in our commu-nity.

In management one talks of”out ofthe box thinking” So you can free your-self from conclusion and beliefs andoperate from openness. All this needspsychological alertness, but most of usare psychologically lazy. We don’t wantto change. It is easy to follow what hasbeen decided. You need strength tothink differently and not to allow fear toguide your life. You will do businessbetter and live a better life rather than abitter life if you follow Him and share thefather’s first Christmas gift fearlessly andeffectively.

There is an English proverb: ’theend justifies the means’. Perhaps, thereis another more relevant principle whichmay be expressed thus; ‘The end justi-fies the beginning’. It is the end resultthat proves whether the beginning wasright or wrong. Many people begin theirlives with great enthusiasm. But the lat-ter period of their life has proved thattheir beginning was not the right one

The better way to decide one’sgoal is to understand the realities of life,and then act in accordance with them.Failure to do so is the main reason forpeople dying of frustration after havingset out full of enthusiasm, when they setthemselves goals, it was under the influ-ence of emotions, without due consid-eration. Such a plan does not work for

long. It is like a sand castle which isdestined in the long run to fall apart.

The NDA government promised‘Achaa Din’ when voted to power. Theyset this goal under the influence of emo-tion with the intention of making India aHindu state without due considerationand now most of us are looking at “AchaaDin” as promised by this NDA govern-ment being voted to power. Withinmonths of the NDA taking over, inci-dents of 'ghar wapsi' have increased,especially in UP and the Christians evenin the national capital are unsafe, with aChurch burnt, another stoned and yetanother attacked. Christians being apeace loving community have their reli-gious sentiments hurt with such state-ments and actions coming from promi-nent BJP politicos.

Christmas was chosen as the dayfor conversion 'ghar wapsi' from Chris-tianity to Hinduism because the event isa “shakti pariksha“(test of strength) forboth religions. If these Christian cankeep their faith and find the strength inthe father’s first Christmas gift to us, theycan stop their conversion to Hinduism. Itis a test for both religions. May He givethem the strength and the faith to with-stand this conversion and temporaryfinancial and other enticement offeredto them in order to convert to Hinduism?

The timing and frequency of suchprovocations makes it suspect that thegovernment is only for Hindus, of Hin-dus and by Hindus, with not even lipservice being paid to minorities. Suchgovernance is bound to draw the ire ofthe developed nations, who presentlyhave a good opinion of the establish-

ment, but are also committed to humanand minority rights. It is well documentedfact that Indian Christians, individuallyand as a community have contributedimmensely towards the progress of thenation and should not be treated assecond-class citizens.

Let us choose this Christmas thatour community bonds as a united frontby accepting and sharing the first Christ-mas gift from a father to his children, tous, to give us the courage to fearlesslyspeak out and defend our communitymembers who are under threat from theHindu nationalist to convert as well as torespond fearlessly to the communityarticles appearing in the Secular Citizenso that solutions could be found for thebetterment of our community.

This Christmas may the gift of thestrength that the father has given to all ofus to think differently and not allow fearto guide our life. May He be the guide toour faith and give us the courage toshare His gift that proclaims “Peace onearth and goodwill to all” – while wegreet each other - Merry Christmas.

If the interest of the community is yourconcern, we welcome your views onthis important issue in our previousissues – Let Children Speak & Let theSpark Speak:

email it to: [email protected] /[email protected]

or by post/courier to:The Secular Citizen – 99, PerinNariman Street, 1st Floor, Fort,Mumbai 400001,


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As is commonly known, we getinto the Christmas spirit with theobservance of the best yuletide

traditions around the world; everythingfrom the Christmas Crib to the Carols,the Christmas Tree, the Greetingcards,and of course Santa Claus. For most ofus Christmas is the most importantcelebration of the year, treasured fortime spent with friends and family,

We have chosen to adapt thismessage as my reason for the season,and to put it into practice have chosen tobring in this period of love, peace andgoodwill far away from the comfort ofhome yet in homely coziness so we –wife Irene and myself - accepted theinvitation of our son, Kestrel his wifeSimone and their son, Keiren, to spendthis Christmas with them in the FestivalState which they have opted for as theirresidence in Australia..

Christmas is a fact of historycelebrated universally with familygatherings, gift- giving and responsiblefeasting. Our daughters, Ingrid Athaideand Jennifer Pereira with their families –Edwin, Diane and Denise; Alan andJeremy - in Mumbai, made this holidaypossible by looking after our Bandrahome, in our absence.

Whatever the reason the seasonwas ushered in in this Festival State withits first traditional pageant on November8, 2014 on the main streetsof the citycentre, the length covering 3.3km. For

us it was an unimaginable experience tobe among the multitude gatheredtherefrom early morning to securevantagepoints from where to get a good view,and literally equipped with bed andbreakfast.

As the pageant rolled by it wascertainly worth waiting the hours.Leading the long parade was a musicalensemble and several more in betweenthe floats, representing the armedservices as also other organisationsrendering sweet and seasonal musicflowing from various instrumentsincluding the rarely heard bag pipes.The floats themselves came alive withnursery folklore and present reality andfinally the reason for this fantasy – theNativity scene.

This Christmas Pageant,sponsored by the Credit Union financialinstitution, holds the proud distinction ofbeing the largest event of its kind in theworld. This year’s pageant is reckonedto have had 147 moving sets, 63 floats.17 bands, 10 dance groups, nine groupsof walking performers, one DJ and threechoirs.

All this was just a chance that cameour way,, not the reason.The real reasonwas to catch the season of goodwillright from its advent and spread the joyof living with family and relativesotherwise far away. The opportunity totranslate the special message into actioncame our way with the warm welcomewe received on arrival and later whenwe went to visit a cousin we had notseen for more than 25 years – RaynahValladares, who a few months earliergracefully reached 98 years, a privilegeenjoyed by very few.

Raynah is an Almeida from Kurla,settled in Australia for well over 30 years,along with her family who know she isgifted with ‘a prolific memory thatcontinues to be remarkably lucid andamazingly accurate, and therefore it isimperative to record her experiences,which can serve as a treasure trove tothe next and succeeding generations,relatives and friends,’

While visiting her at the RetirementHome, we also met her children whovisit her daily. One of them is Fr. JamesValladares, well known to us as also toseveral in Mumbai where, as a diocesanpriest, he was involved in Pastoralministry in four suburban parishes.. Agraduate in Psychology, he went on todo a Master’s in EducationandCounselling Psychology and then aDoctorate in Marriage Counselling andhas authored several books dealing withthese topics. He also served as aLecturer in Psychology in St. Andrew’sCollege, Bandra, for ten years.

Being with family gives a sense ofbelonging representing as it does thefirst and vital cell of society thus makingit a kind of sanctuary throughthe mutualaffections of its members. One vitalReason for the Season could be thefeeling of warmth when reaching out topeople to feel the joy of living. Christmasis not merely Jingle Bells and Tinsel, itcreates a warmth that makes giving andreceiving an enduring experience.

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An old Arabian proverb goes thus,‘Whenever God creates a person, He whispers to the infant,

“You are my favourite. I have nevermade such a wonderful person before.I’m not going to make another so beau-tiful again. You are simply unique”. Ev-ery time we gaze at the infant Jesus, weare reminded once again of the fact that,we are indeed precious to God and thatit is He, who not only gives us the gift oflife, but also the freedom to choose whatto do with it. The involvement of God istotal, because Jesus as a babe visits thehome of saint and sinner alike, invitingboth to be His friends, overlooking limi-tations, imperfections, failures. This in-nocent babe continues challenging us,out of darkness and selfishness, out ofslavery to unhealthy habits and unpro-ductive attachments into……..light, loveand freedom. All this for the simplereason that, through and in each one ofus, God is bringing about His kingdomon Earth, to the extent that we co-oper-ate by remaining open and generous toHis love.

Each Christmas is a sign that ourindividual lives are continually sustainedby God and the sooner we understandthis the sooner will we allow Him tobecome the focal point of reference foreverything in our lives. All things willnow take on a new meaning. Our re-sponses and behaviour, our attitudesand actions too are affected. We willbecome more and more God centredand say with conviction, ‘In him we liveand move and have our being”.Immanuel- a name synonymous withChristmas means ‘God is with us’. Itsimply says God is present in fleshthrough His Son Jesus. As YehudaHalevit- the Jewish poet and religiousphilosopher prayed, “I have sought yournearness, with all my heart have I calledYou, and going out to meet You, I havefound You coming toward me”. Theopen arms of baby Jesus call us to beopen minded in our quest for God so asto find Him in the most unexpected

places, circumstances and events. Allthat we are and have are gifts of Godintended for the service of others. Be itour body, character, talents and abili-ties, our professions and material ben-efits, familial and other responsibilities.When these are used in His service, webegin to enjoy a life of freedom- one withhealthy ambitions and attitudes. Thenlifting our hearts to God we’ll be able tosing, like St. Ignatius of Loyola, “My onedesire is to know you more”.

Day in and day out all of us arepresented with myriad opportunities, bigand small to show kindness, and atChristmas time these somehow becomemanifold. Giving simple gifts to needychildren in the area, feeding a couple ofurchins/ beggars daily with a nutritioussnack, sponsoring a Christmas hamperfor a family beset with problems, clean-ing the home and running errands forthe elderly couple next door, displayingkindness towards pets and strays withpats and biscuits. Simple acts like bitingback the angry retort when someonejumps the queue, allowing a Sr. citizen

to get ahead of you in the line, smilingand exchanging pleasantries with themilkman, watchman and others whomake life easy. Making do without newcurtains and sofa covers and sendingthe amount to a charity, giving an extratip to the gas delivery guy for climbingup and down 3 floors, giving the maid abonus in spite of having increased thesalary a couple of months earlier, ……the list can go on. Some of these arepersonal acts, some I have observed.Just add your own to the list and share.Christmas time somehow puts us in themood to be extra giving or maybe it’s thetime that we become more aware offamily, friends, and community. Morethan 2000 years ago the Earth receivedthe most perfect gift of all, helping usunderstand true kindness and unfath-omable love. Whatever the reason letthis Christmas not pass by without show-ing kindness to someone because ittruly is more blessed to give than toreceive. I say, this Christmas let us be-gin to weave the tapestry of our lives,thread by thread; out of deeds too smallto notice. I leave you this meaningfulpoem someone shared with me a longtime ago.

Let’s celebrate in this day we’re sharing,Let’s send the world a gift, the gift of caring.To those who ail, those sick and infirmed,To them the gift of health reaffirmed.In troubled lands- north, south, west and east,To them let’s send the gift of peace.And to those suffering in the yoke of tyranny,To them the gift of joy and liberty.To those who suffer disasters,To them the gift of safety; now and ever after.To the millions who fall from lack of food,To them the gift of nourishment renewed.To lonely people and those in poverty,To them companionship and prosperity.And to men of power who rule this earthly kingdom,To them in abundance the gifts of justice and wisdom.Together You and I let’s send the world a gift; of hope not despair,Yes our gift would be— to spread the spirit of Christmas everywhere.

Have a Blessed and Joyful Christmas dear friends!!!!!!!!!!—Ninette D’souza

That Time Of The Year Again Ninette D'Souza


It is not surprising that many peopletoday are asking why Catholicschools, colleges and technical in-

stitutes, which were once pioneers inthe field of education, are now losingtheir appeal due to falling standards inteaching-learning and discipline.Though there are many reasons for thisdecline, the main reasons seem tobeexcessive government interferenceand acute shortage of funds to runquality educational institutions intoday’s highly competitive world. For anumber of years, after these institutionswere set up, they enjoyed a large mea-sure of freedom and had enough moneyto attract the best teachers, provide thebest facilities and set high standards ineducation, sports and cultural activi-ties, which were the envy of other insti-tutions. Today, the scenario haschanged drastically regarding these twovital factors: government control andfunds. In recent times, the governmenthas been interfering more and more inthe field of education, especially in aidedschools and colleges. A number of edu-cationally unsound rules and regula-tions have been imposed by depart-ments of education, which make it virtu-ally impossible to maintain any decentstandards in schools and colleges. Forexample, over the years, aided- schoolshave been compelled to admit morethan 60-70 students per class. With somany students to face inhopelesslyovercrowded classrooms,for 6-7 hours on each working day, howcan a teacher teach effectively andmaintain good discipline? In such a

situation, what personal attention canteachers give to their students?

There are also several restrictionson appointments of teachers,whichprevent managements from be-ing able to select the best candidatesfor the job they are expected to do.Many applicantscome well-armed withthe official qualifications laid down bythe government, but with little ability,interest or aptitude to teach well; yetschools are compelled to appoint them,while excluding others who would havebeen much more capable and efficient.Often, they are obliged to appoint teach-ers who have been rendered surplus ingovernment schools, even though theseteachers may be quite incompetent toteach in the new environment. The num-ber of hours that teachers have to teachhas also been progressively increasedover the years, making it virtually im-possible for them to cope with theirroutine work of teaching and evalua-

tion, promoting co-curricular activities,and at the same time, travelling longdistances in packed trains and busesevery day! An additional factor addingto the woes of teachers, is the prolifera-tion of tuition and coaching classeswhich systematically promote rote-learning and undermine original think-ing and all-round formation. They haveled to large segmentsof the studentpopulation losing interest in attendingregular classes in schools and collegesand in participating in extra-curricularactivities. These students show no in-terest in learning anything beyond whatwill help them to secure better marks inexaminations, thus discouraging en-terprising and creative teachers withtheir negative attitudes.

The recent RTE Act of 2010 hasmade matters worse by compellingschools to admit 25% students fromsocially and economically disadvan-taged backgrounds, without even con-

Falling Standards inCatholic Schools

by Joseph M. Dias, S.J.Andheri (E), Mumbai

(Contd.. on p. 31)


sidering their educational standard oraptitude for learning. How will schoolsbe able to bring these students up tothe level expected in the class to whichthey are mandated to admit them? TheAct makes no provision for this, leavingthe schools to solve this herculean prob-lem by themselves. Moreover, the Actsays that no student can be detainedup to class 8! Thus, there is no motiva-tion for students to study, for teachersto teach well, or for parents to push theirchildren to study. The various provi-sions of this Act show that thegovernment’s only concern is to pro-vide admissions to as many children aspossible, without any regard for thequality of education they imbibe. Insuch a situation, how can one expectany school to achieve excellence? Nowonder educational standards in mosteducational institutions in the countryare falling at an alarming rate, evenbelow those found in many so-calledbackward countries!

Private institutions, which havebegun proliferating of late, do not sufferfrom all the above handicaps. They arenot bound by most government regula-tions in the field of education becausethey do not depend upon governmentgrants. They can charge high fees andappoint the teachers they choose. Theyhave enough funds to be able to attractthe best teachers, employ the latesteducational technology and provide thebest facilities available. They also havefewer students in their classes and canreduce the work assigned to their teach-ers to secure maximum efficiency. Natu-rally, they are in a position to achievemuch higher standards of educationand discipline, and attract the best stu-dents. It is also true that private schoolswhich charge handsome capitation feesfor admissions have quickly achievedremarkable standards in the field ofeducation and made a name for them-selves. Unless Catholic schools canfind a way of getting out of the presentgrant-in-aid system of dependenceupon government grants, of raisingadequate funds to attract good teach-

ers and provide better facilities, and ofreducing the student-teacher ratio ineach class, they will continue to fallbehind modern private and internationalschools.

At present, the fees charged byaided schools are abysmally low. Asone of my Catholic friends, who sent hischildren to high-class private schoolssays, “What can schools do with suchlow fees? What can they get for a fewhundred rupees today?” A few aidedCatholic schools may try, occasionally,to acquiremuch-needed finance, strictlyforbidden by the government,to be ableto cover their expenses and improvestandards by charging fees on variousitems like admission forms, special com-puter classes, hiring out their halls andgrounds, etc.These comparatively in-significant collections for the goodofthe school, are promptly labelled as‘capitation fees’ and the public is quickto cry ‘horror!’ as if they have commit-ted some unpardonablecrime!Government too is ever ready toimpose heavy penalties on these help-less schools. At the same time, parentssimply refuse to respond to honest ap-peals made by schools for funds theybadly need to update themselves, andare quick to complain about schoolscollecting any small extra fee. At thesame time, these very parentshave noqualms at allabout spending exorbitantamounts on private tuitions and coach-ing classes! Often, touts fraudulentlycollect large sums of money from gull-ible parents at the time of admissions

by posing as agents appointed bytheschool authorities, without theirknowledge. There is pressure too frompolitical parties and public servants forseats in our schools in exchange forany little cooperation they are actuallyduty-boundto extend to the schools.These officials too could be secretlycollecting money from desperate par-ents begging for those seats.The pub-lic is often ignorant of the fact that, for along time, the government has stoppedgiving aided-schools the ‘non-salarygrant’ due to them every year, which ismeant to cover the day-to-day costs ofmaintenance of these institutions. Howthen areschools and colleges expectedto survive and provide for the comfort,safety and security of their students?Salaries of teachers in aided-schoolsare also pathetically low as comparedto the earnings of people in other pro-fessions.

All these factors need to be con-sidered seriously when we examine thepresent state of our schools, collegesand technical institutes and speculateabout their future. It is high time theentire Catholic Community, especiallythe parishes, rallied aroundoureducational institutions, which haverendered yeoman service to the Com-munity and the nation in the past,andassisted them in new creative ways,to be able to surmount the formidablechallenges they face in order to comeup to the high expectations of our peopletoday.

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THE core belief of the RomanCatholic faith is centered on thebirth of Christ. Christ’ coming was

the key concept throughout the OldTestament as generations after genera-tions awaited the Messiah. Prophetsspoke of the Word becoming flesh anddwelling among us. It was a theologicalgrounding in more respects than one. Itwould all be focused essentially on thebirth of the redeemer , on Christmasbeing Chapter One in the greatest storyof an eternal divine truth being fulfilled.

At Christmas, the birth of Christ laidthe foundation rules of the New Law.

“For God so loved the world that hegave his only Son, that whoever be-lieves in him should not perish but haveeternal life. “(Jn.3:16). Christmas has asimple message from God, to believe inJesus Christ and to trust him, it is theliberating truth of the Gospel, and themost magnificent gift to all humankind.

Christmas is a straightforward declara-tion of faith and will never need en-crypted e-mail and code words to teachworship and how to celebrate this in-credible festival.

Christmas is the overture to the GreatMission given by Jesus to all Christians,“ Go therefore and make disciples of allnations,” (Mat.28:19). Christmas is theprofound answer to the message of theNew Testament : the Promise of theMessiah has come. The answer to oneof St. Augustine’s arguments that hu-man beings were so flawed they needed“something transcendent” to shake themup. Christmas was the Lord’s divinescheme for man’s redemption.

Christ went on to create the Sacramentsfor the Catholic Church. The Seven Sac-raments for Baptism, Penance, Confir-

mation, the Eucharist, Holy Orders,Marriage and Anointing of the sick.Christmas has become the bulwarketched in the tapestry of the Christianfaith and belief. During Christmas, theliturgy, the sermons, the hymns andpraises speak of a world dominated by‘ordo’, God’s all-inclusive order, as itwas said by St.Bonaventure andSt.Augustine . The Catholic Church isthe enforcer of the faith, and standsfirmly on the promised birth of the Sav-iour.

The first lesson of intrinsic value in ourbelief is the Declaration of Faith. TheCreed “I believe”. In this prayer you willcome across a passage : “He was con-ceived by the power of the Holy Spiritand was born of the Virgin Mary.”

The Catholic faith has an “identity” whichis received, and therefore, cannot bechanged. Pope Benedict XVI said, “faith

is a gift, not an acquisition”. We trust lifein Jesus Christ and the Magisterium ofthe Church. We, the faithful, pray to thesaints to intercede for us to the angels toguide and protect us and to the VirginMary, our Mother who was responsiblefor the Word made flesh. Christianprayers are for Blessing and Adoration,for Petition, for Intercession, prayers ofPraise. The people of God believe in thepower of prayer. We start our journey offaith in prayer, our quest for the Al-mighty. His mercy and forgiveness isthrough prayer, rituals,sacrifice andmeditation. God shows and presentsHimself to us through the human heart.Christmas starts the Journey.

Christmas gives us the interior strengthto be fruitful and to spread the Word toall mankind. The Church is our homeand Christmas is our prerogative. ForChristmas is the incredible and truestory of the birth of the Messiah.

Christmas :Incredible And True Birth Of The Messiah

BY MELVYN BROWN


How can we best keep Christmas? How can webest defeat the little bit of Scrooge in all of usand experience the glory of the Great Day?

By sinking the shafts of our spirits deep beneath the spar-kling tinsel of the surface of Christmas and renewingwithin us the radiance of the inner meaning of theseason.

By following the Star on an inward journey to Bethlehem tostand again in awe and wonder before the Babe in aManger.

By rediscovering the faith and simplicity of a little child, for ofsuch is the Kingdom of Heaven.

By being still and listening to the angels sing within ourhearts.

By quietly evaluating our lives according to the Master'sstandards as set forth in the Sermon on the Mount.

By reaffirming the supremacy of the spirit in our conquest ofourselves.

By rededicating ourselves to the Master's ideals of Peace,Brotherhood, and Good Will.

By resolving to give ourselves away to others in love, joy anddevotion.

By using the light of Christmas to guide us through thedarkness of the coming year, refusing to go back to thedim kerosene lamps of the spirit when the brilliantelectricity of Christmas is available to show us the way.

The Art of Keeping Christmas The Idea OfChristimas

The whole idea of Christmas isthe birth of Christ.

It symbolizes for each of us,whether Christian or not, thepossibility of rebirth, the winterbefore the spring. We arereminded how we can add morequality to our lives. We are toldto be more tolerant, to be morecompassionate, to be moregenerous, to give to our family,our friends, our community, todraw our family close aroundus.

Now, it's hard to find all thesemessages under all the presentsand the decorations and all thefood, but they're there. . . Thereare an infinite number of acts ofkindness that are possible withinyour family and friends.

Let the kids make a few moremistakes; be less critical; putyour arms around someonefrom whom you may be a littleestranged.

Make peace within your family.There are many possibilities forthose acts of kindness.

That's what Christmas is allabout--acts of kindness that willstay with us all year long.


Santa’s Dilemma…..

Santa Claus woke up one AdventSunday morning filled with nostalgia for the days when PCs,

Ipods, Note Books et al and electronicgizmos had not put in an appearance inkiddiedom. To keep up with the IT liter-ate kids he had to renew his educationand work all the more harder to continuethe mission started by his erstwhile fore-fathers. But now that he had alreadyamassed a mountain of gifts for the kidsround the world, his thoughts drifted tothe days of yore when kids asked fornothing more than dolls and tricycles.He was running short of ideas to makethe small people happy and thoughtlongingly of those days when kids wrotesweet little notes secreted into the mostunlikely places, begging for a gift fromSanta.The past flashed before his mind leav-ing him with a distinct desire to look intothe lives of his beneficiaries of decadesbefore, children he presumed, were nomore young and innocent! Why not visitthe past to discover how his old patronshad fared down the line……Why notfulfill the desires of the grown up kids fora change? What a wonderful idea!

A Rose by any othername……Little scraps of paper with scribbledpleas for a doll that he discovered yearafter year in the donation box at the footof St. Anthony’s statue in the church hadmoved him to tears. The writer was alittle imp, all of 6 years with rosy cheeksand a dimpled chin and eyes that heldan ocean of pain within. Christmas afterChristmas she watched mutely as herclass mates in Sunday school held theclass spell bound with their tales of theChristmas trees, gifts piled high under-neath, the sweets she could only guessthe taste of and the lovely parties wherepeople drank wine and swayed grace-fully to melodious notes. Yet she joined

in their gay laughter and shared their joythough she knew it was an alien worldthat she was viewing. All the while shedid not cease to write her little notes toSanta, the messenger from the silverysnows, God’s own gift giver!

Though her young heart yearned formore, all she ever received at Christmaswere a couple of hand-me-down dressesand a rare meal of roast chicken andpotatoes, prepared lovingly by hermother using the ingredients generouslydoled out by the Vincent De Paul Soci-ety in the parish. As for Christmas gifts,she learnt to be happy with the commu-nity Christmas tree in the church whereshe received lifeless plastic dolls shecould not love and treasure. So, withfirm faith in Santa she had written yearafter year pleading for a huge doll thatcould blink, sing and move and closeher eyes to share her bed and her fearswhen darkness fell- a friend and a com-panion she could confide in! Santa received a specific description ofthe gift- her doll would have golden hair,the colour of ripe corn, and blue eyes asblue as the depths of the ocean…..Shetold Santa to find her the doll of herdreams and dropped her letter in thechurch boxes, lest he forgot that she tooexisted. She hugged this secret close toher chest- for she knew that her wid-owed mother and older sister workinghard to clean and cook in other people’s

homes would be pained by her sillydreams. How could one dream of reach-ing for the stars when one lived on thebrink of denial and despair? After all,they did their best to feed her and edu-cate her, though they themselves hadno knowledge of letters. She had noright or desire to tax her family further.

The tentacles of poverty had not markedher delicate beauty; there was colour inher cheeks, a sparkle in her eyes and aspring in her step as she ran aroundcherishing the little treasures and plea-sures in her small bare world. Her coun-tenance shone with the hope of a bettertomorrow- a cozy spacious home, prettyclothes and a warm bed in a room of herown! ‘Work hard and trust in the Lord’ iswhat her teacher had told her. So shetoiled side by side with her family, run-ning errands, fetching groceries, help-ing the old folk walk to church. Her beliefin God and Santa( he belonged to God’scoterie, didn’t he?), was so deep thatshe believed that if she pushed herselfinto the front ranks of God’s subjects,she might get noticed. So little Rose waseverywhere- in the children’s choir, atthe lectern reading the Scriptures and inthe band of little helpers of the Lord! Asan altar server, she placed herself onCalvary at the very spot that Jesus died.Would he notice her now that she was

Santa’s GiftsBY VERA ALVARES

(Contd.. on p. 35)


standing at the foot of His cross? In theChristmas plays, she played an angel,trilling ‘Glory to God in the highest’ theloudest of all. Without leaving anythingto chance, she made it a point to attenddaily mass, receive communion andcarry Jesus in her heart everywhere.Would he not look into her heart’s de-sires now that he resided there?

Santa’s Mission……Shaking himself out of his reverie, Santadecided to look up the Rose of yesteryears and reward her for her unshakenfaith in him. He had tried year after yearto find a human conduit through whichthe coveted doll could reach Rose. Butalas, the little family living in total obscu-rity and utter isolation was bereft of anybenefactors except the church organi-zations to whom Rose was just anotherpoor orphan child. Santa’s efforts hadbeen in vain and as years slipped intoeternity, other kids had come on thescene and Rose had slipped intooblivion.

On this wintry morning, as he looked outat the snowy scene, with the reindeerraring to set off on their benevolentmission, Santa could not assuage theguilt that he felt for excluding Rose fromthe ambit of his operations. All thosechildren waiting under the bloated stock-ings and the tilting Christmas trees couldwait just a moment longer- for hasn’tRose waited for many long years for herprecious doll?

One look into the distant void and hesaw her! How she had grown! Therewas more salt than pepper in her lus-trous hair, her rosy cheeks had saggedjust a little, the dimple on the chin hasdeepened some more but her impisheyes still twinkled with the same inno-cent glee he had seen decades ago…He was happy to note that there was nomore pain in them. In the joy of spottingher he totally forgot the purpose of hisvisit- what gift would she ask now?

Rose’s Mission…….He halted in his tracks, Rose did not look

as though she wanted anything fromanyone- on the contrary she had trans-formed herself into a Santa, the giver ofgifts. She was engrossed in distributinggifts to kids who surrounded her, kids ofall ages, sizes, communities and creeds!Though she herself was modestly at-tired, the place was aglitter with a hugeChristmas tree decorated with colourfulbaubles, streamers and lights. Thestrains of gay music filled the air and thesounds of happy laughter resoundedthroughout the huge mansion! In thisinstitution for abandoned babies therewas no room for disappointment anddistress. She had indeed heeded thewords of her teacher “Work hard andleave the rest in God’s hands” to be-come the Santa she had never met.Meticulously, she was distributing toevery kid huge dolls with hair the colourof ripe corn and with eyes the deep blueof an ocean, dolls that could blink, sing,move and close their eyes in sleep, sothat many kids that night would content-edly hug themselves to sleep even intheir poverty and loneliness!



The Make in India directive is amessage to the affluent countriesto invest in India and get what

they need made here. In my opinion thisis anti-development. We will be back tothe colonial period working for thosewith capital and technology. It may cre-ate a few jobs but not in the millionsrequired to absorb those joining thelabor force each year. What is the unique-ness we are projecting of Making inIndia? Let us look at how industrializa-tion and manufacturing developed inother countries. In U.K. it was with theintroduction of the steam engine thatgenerated the power required for massproduction. In U.S.A. Henry Ford intro-duced the assembly line which pro-duced automobiles fast and at a fractionof the cost. Then Taylor brought aboutthe Productivity Revolution with Indus-trial Engineering. Germany and Swit-zerland excelled in engineering and pre-cision. Japan had a Mission for Quality.After WWII they brought in the Quality

Gurus,Deming and Juran, to achieve 6-sigma quality perfection. Now Chinahas captured the world market with lowcosts. What is the foundation for “Makein India”? F.D.Is. from N.R.Is.?

For Make in India to be a successwe are being told by the captains ofindustry, the politicians and bureaucratsthat what is needed is infra-structuraldevelopment. This is because it in-volves huge inflow of funds, capture ofnatural resources like land, coal, otherminerals and oil and tremendous scopefor corruption. For development Indianeeds to break away from this mecha-nistic approach — depending on out-

side capital and technology for progress.Why don’t we tap the genius available inthe Indian sub-continent. We have theexample of the micro-financing miraclebrought about by Mohamed Yunus ofBangla Desh — exploding the myththat banks and bank accounts are es-sential for progress. We have the WhiteRevolution where millions of farmershave been brought together to makeIndia the biggest milk producer in theworld. Unfortunately we have allowedour cooperatives to become centers ofpower and exploitation. Democracy isworking in India and the voice of thepeople is heard. We may not get desir-able people elected but election afterelection has shown that performance isnecessary to remain in power.

A directive has been given for eachelected representative to create a modelvillage in his / her constituency. A modelvillage is self-sufficient and sustainable.This means that the produce and prod-ucts of the village sustain the populationin good times and bad. This involvesadding value to what is being donetoday. For example, the agricultural pro-duce must be processed and upgradedto items of higher value. The waste canbe used to generate energy. Along withsolar energy this could meet the energyrequirements and reduce the need formega plants. Like the milk and sugarcooperatives networks can be createdfor transport minimizing transportation

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costs. All this requires innovation andgrass-root working not highly paid ex-ecutives sitting in glitzy five star hotelsand determining how India will moveforward.

Today the raw materials move tothe town to be made into finished prod-uct which moves back to the large con-sumer market in the rural areas. Thisflow has to be reversed with the prod-ucts of the village in finished, semi-finished form moving from the village tothe town and the needs of the village interms of high tech goods coming to thevillage from the urban manufacturingcenters.

A model village must have first rateschools, community and functioninghealth centers, entertainment facilities,transport and communication, housing,effective water and electricity supply,sanitation, security and safety and aboveall employment for all which canbeachieved through small scale indus-tries and business which are the back-bone of Indian industry today.

The scope for innovation comes

from Ground Zero — identification andutilization of resources be it land, air,water, sunshine, vegetation to manag-ing waste, packaging and transport ofgoods. The trained and educated shouldengineer products and services to meetthe needs of the masseswith innova-tions to provide cheap and easy to main-tain housing with optimum land utiliza-tion, food preservation,water conserva-tion and recycling,waste management,health and sanitation, mass education.The genius of the Indian people shouldbe tapped to eradicate poverty, exploi-tation and create productive employ-ment for All.

Technology has progressed tosuch a level that small batches can beproduced in small industries as cheaplyas mass produced items. The optimumbatch size need not be in the thousands.It can be just ONE piece. Devices havebeen invented that can convert smallquantities of waste to usable productse.g. plastic waste to petrol. The pro-posed reforms will only help big busi-ness. A paradigm shift is required to usetechnology and IT to make the small

business competitive with minimum ofinvestment. We are at an inflexion pointwhen India can lead a new Manufactur-ing Revolution to make India the Manu-facturing Centre of the World

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus ofTata Sons, speaking at the launch of theIndia Chapter of XPrize, said Indiansmust not only solve the problems givento them but must also develop the entre-preneurial ability to identify new prob-lems to solve. XPrize is a US based, non-profit body that creates incentivizedprizes that encourage high impact inno-vation in some of the world’s most press-ing areas. XPrizeIndia will focus onwater, nutrition, waste, energy and learn-ing. Peter Diamandis, founder of XPrize,said that XPrizeis being offered for thefirst time outside US in India. Smallgroups of people today can do whatcould be done earlier only by largecompanies. Crazy ideas can becomebreak-throughs. India can be the launchpad for solving the problems of emerg-ing economies. Extreme poverty can bemassively reduced in a very short timethrough innovations.


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All of us are gearing towards Christmas, celebrating the incarnationof our Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ. The very mention of Christmasevokes the emotions of joy and celebra-tion within us. Whether young or old, wecannot think of Christmas without SantaClaus, cribs, stars, a neatly decoratedChristmas tree, homemade sweets andloads of fun. But has it ever occurred toyou when and where all this begun? Letus take a glance into this through historyto see how the season of Christmas andits festivities developed.

Why is Christmas celebratedon December 25th?

Have you ever wondered whetherJesus Christ was really born on Decem-ber 25th? The answer is No! Because noone knows the exact date of theMessiah’s birth. The Holy Bible too doesnot provide us with any date. So why dowe Christians celebrate Christmas onDecember 25th?

The early Christians certainly hadmany arguments regarding this. Thefirst recorded date of Christmas beingcelebrated on December 25th was in336 A.D. during the time of the RomanEmperor, Constantine. A few years laterPope Julius I officially declared that thebirth of Jesus Christ would be celebratedon December 25th.

Among the many different tradi-tions and theories, a very early Christiantradition says that the day when Marywas told that she would have a veryspecial baby, was on March 25th, and itis still being celebrated today on the25th of March. Nine months after March25th is December 25th. December 25thmight also have been chosen becausethe birthday of the Pagan Sun God,Mithra was celebrated on this day. Theearly Christians might have given thisfestival a new meaning --- to celebratethe birth of the Son of God, ‘the uncon-quered Son’!

The Star of Bethlehem:What was the Star of Bethlehem

and what did the three wise men actu-ally see? Well, to be honest no one reallyknows. But there are many theories in-cluding comets, super novas’, a con-junction of planets or something entirelysupernatural! There are only 12 versesin the Holy Bible about the wise men andthe star (Matthew, Chapter 2, Verses 1 to12). They’re often called the ‘ThreeKings’, but the Holy Bible does not men-tion how many men were there, or thatthey were kings. They became threebecause of the gifts they brought withthem. They had seen an unusual newstar in the sky and knew that it told of thebirth of the Messiah, as foretold in Isaiah,Chapter 7, Verse 14. The Holy Bible tellsus that they first saw the star in the eastand then again when they were in Jerusa-lem, it went ahead of them until it stoppedover the place where the Christ childwas born. The stars that we see lit upduring Christmas are associated withthis ‘Star of Bethlehem’.

Nativity plays, Cribs & Carols:Christmas would certainly be bor-

ing without nativity plays and carolsbeing sung which breathe life into theseason. The first Nativity play was per-formed by the monks in a cave in Italy.St. Francis of Assisi and his followersacted in the first play in 1223 A.D. toremind the local people of the regionthat Jesus Christ was born for them, asHe was born into a poor family liketheirs. St. Francis of Assisi told the partof each character in the story himselfusing wooden figures in the play. A fewyears later, the play had become verypopular that real people played the partsof the characters in the story. Songswere sung by the people taking part inthe play and they soon become what wecall as Christmas carols today.

St. Nicholas, Santa Claus &

Father Christmas:A Christmas party is definitely not

complete without the appearance ofSanta Claus and the gifts and sweetsdistributed by him. Now from where didSanta Claus appear? The idea of SantaClaus began with St. Nicholas, a patronsaint of children, who was a Bishop wholived in the 4th century A.D. in a placecalled Myra in Asia Minor (now calledTurkey). Nicholas was a rich and kindperson and had a reputation for helpingthe poor and giving secret gifts to thepeople who needed them. There areseveral legends about St. Nicholas whichportrays him distributing gifts to people.From this, the idea of Santa Claus tookshape.

So friends, as we celebrate Christ-mas this year, let us focus on the realmeaning behind this jingly season andits traditions. Christmas is a time tocelebrate the incarnation of the Son whowas a generous and gratuitous gift fromGod. It is a time of great happiness forGod left the confines of His divinity toenter into humanity forever. It also in-vites us to spread this joy to the peoplearound us, to do for them somethingthat shows your love and appreciation.Following the examples of the threewise men from the east and St. Nicho-las, let us learn to be generous towardsothers, a generosity that is not just lim-ited to material gifts, but also with ourtime.

How Christmas Developed Jubel D'Cruz


Introduction

Early Romans marked the wintersolstice with a feast calledSaturnalia in honour of Saturn

their god of agriculture. To observe theoccasion they adorned their homes andtemples with evergreen boughs.

In India the Bodhi tree or Peepal isconsidered sacred as Buddha attainedNirvana or enlightenment. In theBhagwad Gita, Krishna declares, "I amthe Peepal (Asvattha) tree (10:26); andalso unravels a parable of it's upwardsroots and downward branches (15:1-3)

Germany is credited with the modernChristmas Tree(s) - CT tradition in the16th century when devout Christians cutevergreens to decorate their housesand front-yards. Nowadays, artificial CTare made from PVC plastics; and 10.9million were purchased in the USA in2012.

Christmas Tree FarmsNatural CTs are derived from Scotch,Virginia and White pines, or from Dou-glas, noble and Balsum firs. There aremore than 15,000 CT forms, 350 millionCT are grown on these USA farms. About2000 CT are planted per acre and culti-vated in over 3,50,000 acres. At 6-8 feetthe CT are ready for harvest in about 6-8 years.

24.5 million farm-grown CT were ac-quired in 2012 with a market value of $1.01 billion, or roughly $ 41.30 per CT.An estimated 175,000 real CT were alsosold via e-commerce. 93% of CT con-sumers recycle their CT in over 4,000recycling programmes.

Ecological Value of CT:Nearly one lakh persons are employedfull or part-time in the CT industry. CTprovide a habitat for wildlife. RecycledCT have been used to construct and soilerosion barriers. CT absorb CO2 and

release oxygen. They precipitate dustand neutralize allergic pollen. Accord-ing to the community Forest Guide-book, an acre of CT supplies the dailyoxygen requirement of 18 people. 100CT eliminate five tons of CO2 and 1,000lbs of other pollutants in their lifetime.Around urban areas they reduce theambient temperature by 5-8 degrees.Truly, the CT are 'trees of life'!

OT - "Tree of Life"In the Garden of Eden there stood the"tree of life" (Genesis 2.9); the fruit ofwitch Adam was forbidden to eat, lest hedies. But in later Jewish thought the"tree of life" came to embody - "the fruitof righteousness, hope fulfilled, wisdomand a gentle tongue" (Proverbs, 11.30;3:12, 18; 15:4). And, its future optimismguaranteed that "they who do the thingsthat please God shall receive the fruit ofthe tree of immortality" (Sirach, 19:19+)

Cross - The "tree of life"!Paul contrasts: "Christ redeemed us fromthe curse of the law by becoming acurse for us - for it is written, 'Cursed iseveryone who hangs on a 'tree'"(Galatians, 3:13)

Peter reminisces: "He himself bore oursins in his body on the 'cross', so that,free from sin, we might live for righ-teousness; by his wounds you havebeen healed" (1 Peter 2:24)

Yes, dying Jesus destroyed our death;by rising Jesus restored our life!

Symbolism of the CTPope John Paul II called the CT a sym-bol of Christ, This ancient custom exaltsthe value of life; for as in winter what isevergreen becomes a sign of undyinglife, and reminds Christians of the "treeof life"! With its loftiness, its green colourand the light in its branches the CT is asymbol of life that points to the mysteryof Christmas love says Pope BenedictXVI.

Its triangular configuration mirrors TheMost Blessed Trinity! The star aboveand its lights signity Christ the "brightmorning star" (Rev. 22:16), and the "lightof the world" (John, 10:10).

CT Reward - HeavenlyJerusalem!In the Book of Revelation, the "tree of life"with its 12 kinds of fruits and its leavesare for the healing of the nations (22:2).Jesus reveals to the Apostles John whorepresents us: "Listen to what the Spiritis saying to the churches - 'To everyonewho conquers, I will give permission toeat from the 'tree of life' that is in theparadise of God ... Blessed are thosewho wash their robes, so that they willhave the right to the 'tree of life' and mayenter the city by the gates" (27... 22:14).

Christmas Tree - "The Tree of Life"

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Dr. Trevor Colaso


I think it’s a pretty good guess that thetwo scariest words for any cell phoneuser are “low battery”. Apart from

getting it wet, getting a low power warn-ing is the worst thing that can happen toyour smartphone, and most of us areconstantly aware of how our battery isdoing and if it needs to be charged.

There are many misleading mythsthat evolved over time about chargingyour phone, most of them are com-pletely wrong. These myths are not onlyfalse but can actually do more harmthan good, and reduce the total life spanof your battery. So for those of us whowant to keep our phone battery chargedas long as possible, these are the mythsyou should avoid.

Myth: Off-brand chargersdestroy batteries.Truth: While not optimal, off-brandchargers are still fine for rechargingyour phone and will not have a signifi-cant influence on your battery’s life span.What you should be avoiding are brandknockoffs. Charging you phone with

one of these will barely get the job done,reduce your battery’s maximum chargeand endanger its ability to function.

Myth: Don’t use your phonewhile it charges.Truth: Using the phone while it’splugged in to the charger will notdecrease the efficacy of the charge.The reasons behind this myth are linkedto cases in which people used low qual-ity knockoffs. When using a sketchycharger all sorts of bad things can hap-pen to your phone, but as mentionedbefore you don’t want to be using themanyway. If you’re using the manufac-turer approved charger and battery, youshould be fine using it anytime youwant.

Myth: Charging your phoneovernight damages the battery.Truth: Our phones today are smarterthan they used to be, when in full capac-ity they automatically know they should

stop charging. However, that doesn’tmean you should have your phoneplugged in to the charger all the time.The optimal time to charge your phonein order to keep the battery going longas possible is between 40% and 80%.

Myth: Never turn off yourphone.Truth: This myth is a total lie, just be-cause your phone is a machine doesn’tmean it’s bad for it to take a few breaks.In fact, apple experts recommend turn-ing off your phone once in a while inorder to maximize battery life. At thevery least it’s recommend to turn offyour phone once a week for a few hours.

Myth: Don’t charge your batteryuntil it’s completely empty.Truth: This myth was true in past gen-erations of smartphones and recharge-able electronic devices, but today it’scompletely wrong. Most modern phones

The Truth Behind MisleadingPhone Charging Myths

Agnelo Rodrigues,Wadala E

(Contd.. on p. 41)

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use lithium-ion batteries and if you con-stantly let them drain to 0%, they be-come unstable. It is much better tocharge your phone every day when it’sbetween 40% and 80% power.

Myth: Always charge a newphone before using it.Truth: Almost every new phone comeswith instructions to fully charge if beforeyou start using it but it’s mostly unnec-essary. Since most modern batteriesare best stored at about 40%, almostevery manufacturer sends their phonesout with at least half a charge. Thismeans that if you buy a new phone andit does not have a 40% charge when youturn it on, its most likely because thebattery is very old. If this is the case, you

should ask for a different one as it willsurely last you longer than one that haseither been used before, or has beensitting idle for a really long time with nouse.

Myth: You can always userechargeable batteries.Truth: This one is a bit more misleadingthan false, but it’s still important to knowthat most batteries do have a limited lifespan of full discharge cycles. Each cyclestarts when your device has used 100%of its capacity. This means that if youcharge your phone today from 50% tofull and do the same tomorrow, that’s afull discharge cycle. Once you go abovethe amount of full cycles your battery iscapable of it will start to lose capacity tostore power.

So yes, you can keep on using

(Contd.. from p. 40) your battery for a very long time, butonce the official “life span” is over, you’llhave to be very mindful of how you useit. Hopefully it will only happen once,when you want to upgrade your de-vice.

Bonus fact: Heat will ruin yourbattery.As a general rule heat and technologydon’t go hand-in-hand. Lithium-ion bat-teries get hotter when they are beingcharged. Now while it’s also a really badidea to put your phone in the fridge, youshould always be mindful of where youplace your phone, especially whencharging it. Never charge it under directsunlight or next to other hot electronicslike a laptop or a working oven. This maynot only damage your battery but alsothe phone itself.


The word candle - candela fromcandeo to burn was an eight century ecclesiastical term put into

the English language included any taperwith a wick from a papyrus strip in waxor animal fat and like incense and lustralwater were used for pagan worship anddeath rites which the church adoptedfor enhancing religious ceremonies.

Lights, perfumes ablutions, floral deco-rations, canopies fans, screens, bells,vestments etc. were common to all cultsand are part of mystical expression,secular celebration and religion and agun salute - a tribute of a warship to aforeign flag cannot be called supersti-tious the number of candles for highMass.

Carrying tapers was respect for theRoman Empires highest dignitaries in'Notitia Dignitatum Imperii' influencedcandles borne before a pope or bishopin procession to the sanctuary or thetransport of the Gospels to the ambo or

In December the war raged andpeople wanted peace so they put acandle in their windows as a peaceprayer and on Christmas Eve every win-dow had candles.

When day came a messenger rodeto the village with news of peace and thegrateful people thanked God and vowedto keep a candle lit on every ChristmasEve and from then this lovely customhas spread world wide as assign ofhope and friendship-the lighted candlesymbolising peace and love - a percus-sor of the Christmas Star in our windowor doorway.

The earliest records of the Christ-mas candle use is from the middle ageswhere a large candle represented theStar of Bethlehem.

Big use of candles and lamps werein the Easter vigil celebration from Ap-ostolic times-Eusebius -Vita ConstantIV, xxii speaks of pillars of wax withwhich Constantine transformed nightinto day and Prudential and other au-thors describe brilliance inside churches.

Candles were used when artificiallight was necessary and the Spanishcouncil at Elvira-c 300 decree con-demned as an abuse superstitious burn-

ing of candles in the day in cemeteries-the heretic Vigilantius reproached or-thodox that when the sun shone they litmany candles - moles cereorum accendifaciunt and St. Jerome said that candleswere lit when the Gospel was read not toput darkness to flight but as a sign of joy-Migne P L X X III,345 and this remarkand the close association of lit candleswith the baptismal ceremony on EasterEve made the sacrament photismos-illumination showing the early presenceof Christian symbolism of blessedcandles which is confirmed by the Exulteton Holy Saturday for paschal candleblessing- St. Jerome composed the peri-toneum paschal-Morin in RevueBenedictine, Jan, 1891 where the virgin-ity of bees is insisted, the wax represent-ing Jesus Christ's flesh from a virginmother, the wick symbolises his souland the flame Divinity which absorbsand dominates both -so paschal candlesrepresents Christ the true light and thesmaller candles Christians who strive torepresent Christ in their lives.

Apart from use at baptism and fu-nerals -St. Cyprian was buriedpraelucentibus creis at the Fourth Coun-

'The Christmas Candle'

Peter Castellino

pulpit.Candles were associated with

Christmas for various reasons but theyear is uncertain and they were used forancient winter solstice celebrations -toremember spring's arrival.

Many years ago there was an oldand very poor shoemaker in Austria'sborder who were ever ready to help theneedy and every evening they put a litcandle in the window to welcome any-one passing by.

War came and also famine but thecandle burned brightly and the villagerscould not understand why the shoe-maker and his wife were always peace-ful.

The shoemaker sad it was due tothe candle and when the villagers askedhow peace could come from a candlethe shoemaker sad that peace and lightare one.

(Contd.. on p. 43)


cil of Carthage - a synod in SouthernGaul-c 514 on conferring the minororder of acolyte the candidate was givena candlestick with a candle-observedtoday-such candles according to theGregorian Sacramentary and OrdinesRomani were used in the Roman Cer-emonial prior to the seventh centuryand the candles were placed on thesanctuary pavement and later on thealtars in the twelfth century.

The Ordines say that the popewas preceded by seven acolytes withcandles -the candles placed on thepavement and later on the altar -thussix altar candlesticks for an OrdinaryHigh Mass and seven when a bishop ofa diiocese pontificates -thus the identi-fication with the acolytes' candlesticksof the Roman Ordines.

According to Edmund Bishop inthe Downside Review,1906 every HighMass has six candles , four for everyMissa Cantata or private Mass o festi-vals and two for other Masses but onmore solemnb ocassions more candlescan be lit,for Vespers and Lauds whenthe office is sung on big feasts sixcandles are lit but two or four for lesssolemn ocassions.

Rubrics say two acolytes withcandles should head the procession tothe sanctuary and the candles honourthe gospel chanting at High Mass,thesinging of the little chapter and thecollects at Vespers etc -and a bishopentering a church is received and es-corted by candle holding acolytes andwhen he takes part in any ecclesiasti-cal function in the sanctuary he has hisown candlestick called bugiaheld be-sides him by a chaplian or cleric.

Candles are used in excommuni-cations, reconciling penitents and otherexceptional functions and play an im-portant part in a church dedication,cemetry blessing and canle offeringsaremade at the Offetory of an ordinationmass by newly ordained.

For conferring all sacraments ex-cept penance a candle must be lit andat baptism a lit candle is put into thecatechumen or godfather's hand rep-resenting the infant.

A Mass must have it candles andif in danger of being blown outby windthey must be protected by lanterns andthe Roman Missal's rubrics say at theSanctus of even a private Mass an addi-tional candle must be lit and burn afterCommunion of a priest but this is ne-glected even in Rome Liturgical candlesmust be of beeswax because of thesymbolic reference to Christ's flesh andfor the paschal candle and two obliga-tory candles at Mass a recent decree ofthe Congregation of Rites-14Dec,1904decided that they must be of beeswax inmaxima parte meaning not less than 75per cent and candles at Benediction etcmust be of wax in great part - twelvecandles for public exposition of theBlessed Sacrament but six for a poorchurch or private exposition.

Candles must be white butgildedand painted candles are sometimespermitted,in Masses for the dead andHoly Week yellow or unbleached wax isused and litugical candles can beblessed.

An elaborate candle blessing oc-curs on the feast of the Purification orCandelmas Day on 2 Feb this functionwas performed by the pope where heresided and some of the candles blessedwerte scattered among the crowd andothers sent to noted persons and a lesselaborate form of blessing of candles onordinary ocassions is given in the Missaland Ritual.

The Christian Candelmasprocessionals on February 2 honour theVirgin but actually date back to pre-Christian worship.

Jesus is sometimes called the Lightof the World by Christians which re-sulted in the Advent Crown/AdventWreath and Advent Candles.

Candles are also used during Ha-nukkah - the Jewish Festival of Lightsalso celebrated during winter for eightnights and a candle is lit in a specialmenorah/candelabra called a'hannukkeyah ' which symbolizes thgeTree of Life and its seven branchesrepresent light, justice, peace, truth,benevolence, brotherly love and har-mony and the seven days of creation isone of the great symbols of Judaism.

A monumental menorah with carv-ings depicting scenes from Jesus his-tory was given as a gift from the Britishgovernment to the state of Israel at itsfoundation.

Candles are also used in the mod-ern winter festival Kwanzas where a spe-cial candle holder called a kinara thatholds seven candles is used.

The most famous use of candles atChristmas are Carols by Canlelight Ser-vices whn the church is lit only bycandles.

Candles were used to decorateChristmas Trees until safer electric lightswere invented.

In some parts of Ireland it wastraditional to have a Yule candle insteadof a Yule Log.

In Southern India, Christians put oilburning lamps on flat roofs of homes tocelebrate Christmas.

Chinese Christians use paper lan-terns to decorate their Christmas trees.

In Sweden candles are used aspart of St Lucia's or St Lucy day celebra-tions.

Wax lights had to be used in churchas it was a tradition that came fromPalestine.

Candfles were burnt at shrines toshow special devotion and a candleburning out before a statue symbolisedprayer and sacrifice.

Meassuring to such or such a saintwas a medieval practice where a candleor a number of candles equalling inmeasurement the height of the personsfor whom the favour was asked is fromSt Radegund-d 587 till the Middle Ageswas practised in England and the Northof France in the twelfth and thirteenthcenturies.

Figurative and symbolic thoughtare connected with candle usage inChurch.

Among folk candles and their waxare ominous they predict a happy orunhappy marriage in the way they burn,a family death is forecast if they gutter.

Candles are used for divinationand charms by girls to determine theirfuture husbands and other customs andbeliefs today and in the past in theBritish Isles and parts of the continent.


(Contd.. on p. 44)


If a candle burns blue or dim thenthere is a ghost in the house and if itburns blue then there will be frost.A candle burns irregularly melts plentyof tallow and burns too fast indicates athief in the candle and when it gives aspark in the air it means a letter iscoming to the one sitting nearest it.

A general European folk belief isthat it is unlucky to burn three canles inthe same room at once.

A candlewick that divides andburns with two flames indicates death inGermany but a letter in Austria.

Dreaming of a brightly burningcandlemeans receiving a letter from yourlove.

In Arkansas a lighted candleundera person's house aids a conjurer and alit candle protects one from spells.

In Ireland twelve candles are keptaround a dead body before burial tokeep away evil spirits who cannot entera circle of fire from carrying away a deadman's soul. Candle dance is a dancewhere performers hold lit candles.

The ball del ceri of Catalonia andthe baile de la candela of the Venezu-elan Guayuncomo tribe have men andwomen-in the former the group per-forms in couples a consecratory Chris-tian ceremony and in the latter insepararte groups orgiastic jumping andcircling.

Candles are shrunken great bees-wax candles and torches of pagan andcontemporary torch processions usedfor torchlight circling of fields when theflames vitality was cimmunicated tocrops , in c andle bearing processionslike the flame bearing Eros and in hon-orific processionals.-and the Catalan ballde la teya exemplifies the first functionand the Hungarian gyertyas tanc thesecond.

The Philippine candle dance is aselection dance where a girl chooses amate while waltzing and manipulating acandle.

There is a mistaken impressioneven among Catholics, that thevocation to a religious life is drab,

dull and dreary. However, it is other-wise.

Pope Francis’ letter of 13 articles –REJOICE –(R), presented on 2nd Feb.2014, on the Feast of the Presentationof the Lord, to all Consecrated menand women for the ‘Year of Conse-crated Life – 2005’ was made publichere only on Oct. 2014, courtesy,Carmel International Publishing House.

“The ‘joy’ of the Gospel fills the heartand lives of all who encounter Jesus.With Jesus Christ ‘joy’ is continuallyborn anew” (R, 1:1). In article 12:6 heconcludes: “I won’t to say one word toyou and this is JOY! Wherever thereare consecrated people, seminarians,men and women religious, youngpeople, there is joy, there is always joy!It is the joy of freshness, the joy offollowing Jesus; the joy that the HolySpirit gives us, not the joy of the world.There is joy! But – where is joy born?This joy was literally conceived at theAnnunciation! – ‘Rejoice full of grace’(Luke, 1:28)”.

St Paul lists ‘joy’ as one of the ninefruits of the Spirit, only after love

(Galatians, 5:22). Such is the prioritygiven to this delightful fruit!

However, recent attacks on Christiansin particular have caused pain, harmand distress, turning joy into grief andsorrow. But we need not despair, forJesus in the ‘joys’ of the Blessednessof persecution, promises the rapturesand ecstasy of paradise! “When peoplehate, exclude, revile and defame youon account of the Son of Man, ‘rejoice’in that day and ‘leap for joy’ for surelyyour reward is great in heaven” (Luke,6:22-23a). Yes, this joy is the Messianicgift of Jesus par excellence to all: “ThatMy ‘joy’ may be in you , and that your‘joy’ may be complete” (John, 15:11).

—Dr Trevor Colaso,

“Be Glad, Rejoice, Radiate Joy!” -The Joy of ‘Consecrated Life’!



What is Christmas?

In the Christian religion, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ by the virgin Mary, whichis observed on December 25 by Roman Catholics and Protestants. Many in the Eastern Orthodox branchof Christianity observe the Christmas holiday, Epiphany.

Many people today, including Christians, celebrate Christmas with traditions such as Christmas trees andthe figure of Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas).

The English word "Christmas" derives from the old English Christes maesse, meaning "Christ's mass."Christians have been celebrating Jesus' birth on December 25 since at least the early fourth century. Thefirst evidence of its observance is in Rome in 336 AD. The earliest Christians do not appear to havecommemorated the nativity, but only the baptism and resurrection of Christ and the deaths of the martyrs.In fact, some early Christians, most notably Origen of Alexandria, strongly opposed the celebration ofChrist's birth. Pointing out that only Pharaoh and Herod celebrate their birthdays in the Bible, Origenargued that birthdays were for pagans, not Christians. Jehovah's Witnesses follow the same reasoningtoday in rejecting both Christmas and celebration of birthdays.

Christmas SagaThe Christ Child prophesied long ago,Was born in a little manger we know.Wrapped in swaddling clothes He Lay,As Way, Truth and Life to show us the Way.

As Emmanuel - God with us - He came,An we as Belivers bear His name.In Salvation story, God became Man,That we might become like Him in His Plan.

God's only son, Messenger of Love,Came down to Earth from Heaven above.Glad tidings and rejoicing all around,Brings us true Joy, and Peace profound.

His coming for everyone, big and small,That we might hear His Loving Call.May you be Blessed all through the year,For all our needs, He's always near.

—S. Gaikwad, Bokaro Thermal


Praying brings divinehelp and guidance in ourlives. Here are the basicsof how to talk with God.

Whether we are seeking answersto problems, are in need ofdivine comfort or need to find

strength and faith, we can speak to Godand obtain his help. Simply put, we canpray. But, how do we pray? How can weunderstand his answers?

In the Bible, we are taught how topray. Jesus Christ taught his disciplesusing an example of how to pray to Godwhen he shared what is commonly called"The Lord's Prayer." Matthew 6:9-13states:

"After this manner therefore prayye: Our Father which art in heaven,Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdomcome. Thy will be done in earth, as it isin heaven. Give us this day our dailybread. And forgive us our debts, as weforgive our debtors. And lead us not intotemptation, but deliver us from evil: Forthine is the kingdom, and the power,and the glory, for ever. Amen."

Address God and praisehim

When you call someone on thephone, you generally ask to speak tothem by name. It's the same with prayer.Address your Father in Heaven andpraise him; thank him for the blessingsin your life. We have much to be gratefulfor in our lives: family, friends, homes,our gifts and talents or answers toprayers. Showing gratitude and respectto God helps us be humble and willingto submit to his will for us rather thanfocusing on our own wants.

Seek forgiveness andstrength to overcometemptations

Part of praying requires being

sonal pleas for help or in behalf of lovedones. Let him cry with you. He caresabout the smallest matters--even a lostitem like a shoe or car keys. Personally,I have prayed and taught my kids to prayfor help in finding something. Frequently,after we pray, the item is located withinminutes. We can ask for help in our jobs,our problems with children, prayers forhealing or simply for peace. Since hetruly knows each of us as individuals, heknows how best to help, comfort andstrengthen us. Often, as we are prayer-ful in our heart and minds--not just whilepraying--we will receive impressions ofthings that we can do.

Have patience and Listenfor answers

When you're chatting with a friend,you don't pour out your soul and thentake off just as they were getting ready torespond, right? You wait and listen towhat they have to say. It is the same forprayer. God won't answer in a big boom-

ing voice from the heavens like TV mightsuggest. More likely, it will be a thought,feeling or impression that comes to yourmind and heart. God usually speaksthrough the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit toconvey his message. With practice, any-one can learn to recognize to and re-spond to these subtle answers. Some-times the answer is "no" or "not yet," andwe need to be willing to accept thoseanswers as well.

Each of us can talk to God regard-less of how religious or non-religious weare, our level of faith or what we have orhave not done. He will be there on theweekends, in the middle of the night andin the middle of our deepest sorrows orour greatest joys. We just need to callupon him to be heard. He is waiting, withhis arms extended, to help each of us.He just wants us to "call" him frequently-- as many times a day (or night) wedesire. There is strength and power inprayer.

How to talk with God?humble; often by recogniz-ing our wrongs and receiv-ing forgiveness. God wantsus to learn from our mis-takes and become a mas-ter over ourselves. We willmake mistakes. It's part oflife. Read Why it's OK tomake mistakes. As wemake amends, it is impor-tant to ask God for strengthto overcome and avoid pos-sible future temptations. Wecan also pray for help toovercome our own weak-nesses and shortcomings.

Humbly ask Godfor specific bless-ings or help thatyou need

Discuss with himstruggles or worries youhave. These can be per-


Santa vsJesus:What doyour kidsbelieve?

Let's face it. Christmas can be aconfusing time for kids. Whenchildren are little, they believe in

Santa, the North Pole and the elves.They also believe in the Christ Child,the manger, the shepherds and thestar.

As children grow older, they be-gin to understand that some Christ-mas stories are myths. How can wekeep our children from connecting orconfusing the reality of Christmas withthe magical fantasies of Christmas —from thinking that, perhaps, Christmight also be a myth?

We want our kids to be excitedabout making their Christmas lists, writ-ing to Santa and receiving their gifts,but we also want them to understandthe true meaning of Christmas and feelthe spirit of giving. How can we helpour children get excited about giving toothers?

The best way to solve these co-nundrums is to clearly separate themyth of Santa and the reality of Christ— to separate the getting part of Christ-mas from the giving part — in theminds of our children. Here's how:

When kids begin to ask aboutwhether or not Santa is real, tell themSanta is "real-imaginary." In otherwords, he is a real and wonderful mythor story that helps us feel the magicand mystery of Christmas. Santa rep-resents happiness, goodness and

sharing, and he helps us develop ourimaginations and feel good and de-serving of gifts. Like tales of the ToothFairy or the Easter Bunny, it is fun tohave those North Pole stories and toenjoy those Santa myths.

Jesus Christ, on the other hand,is very, very different from Santa be-cause He is "real-real." He actually wasborn on earth to Mary and Joseph,giving us the greatest gift of all. Hisstory, with the innkeeper, the manger,the star and the wise men, is the truestand most important story of all time.

Make sure your kids know that itis OK to think of both Santa and Jesusat Christmastime but that the two arenot the same. One is a fun story in ourimaginations, and the other is the great-est true story of all time.

Since it is so hard to integrate thevery different Christmas joys of gettingand of giving in the same Christmasmorning ritual, separate them! OnChristmas Eve, put all of the focus ongiving and on Christ's story. Have a"Bethlehem Supper" and dress as shep-herds, wise men, Mary and Joseph.Serve only fish, flatbread and figs —things Mary's family might have eatenon the night before she and Joseph left

on their journey to Bethlehem.Try turning off the lights and use

only candles. Sit around the table androle-play as you eat together. With"Joseph" there as a guest, talk aboutthe long journey ahead. Will the don-key make it? Do they have reserva-tions at a hotel or inn? How long willthey be gone? Why do they have to goso far to pay taxes anyway? After din-ner, act out the manger scene, com-plete with angels, shepherds and wisemen.

Gather around the Christmas treeand open only the gifts from the chil-dren. Focus entirely on the gift giver."Oh, just what I wanted! How did youknow? Wow, did you make this? Youfound such perfect gifts." Let each childhave a turn giving his gifts, and let eachchild revel in the joy of giving.

Having focused Christmas Eveentirely on Jesus and the joy of giving,you can then shift to Santa, stockingsand the joy of getting on Christmasmorning! There is indeed room forboth Jesus and Santa at Christmastime,but parents have to be careful to sepa-rate the two in the minds of their chil-dren!


Of the many subjects that wecould talk about on Christmasday, I thought the most appro-

priate would be to speak on Christmasand the Eucharist. There are many as-pects to their relationship, but there aremainly three: (1) both Christmas andthe Eucharist are facts; (2) both reveala mystery; and (3) both are meant toteach us a profound and not easilylearned lesson.

Christmas, first of all, is a fact ofhistory. In a point of time and at adefinable place the God of heaven andearth was born of a woman, and cameto live among us as man. It is a fact thatthe infinite God became, unexplainably,a finite creature. It is a fact to whichhistorians attest but which we know isno mere statistic of history; it is, rather,a fact planned by God from all eternity.This is the fact of Christmas: the Wordactually became Flesh.

What is the fact of the Eucharist? Itis that the same Jesus Who was bornon earth not only became man butremains man. He not only came into theworld, He is in the world. In a word, Hecame to stay. The Eucharist is Christ-mas prolonged, because faith tells usthat once God became man, He de-cided to remain man. From all thereaches of past eternity, God had onlybeen God. But having once taken onhuman flesh, into now the future reachesof eternity, God will always remain man.And this God-Man is here; Bethlehem iswherever there is a Catholic Church orchapel in which Christ is present. Theseare the two facts that we commemorateon Christmas day.

But Christmas and the Eucharistare not only facts, they are also myster-ies. What is the mystery of Christmas?The mystery is the humanly incrediblereality of why God became man. He didnot have to. God did not even have tomake the world, and within the world,

He did not have to make us. Except forthe love of God, we are all empty unoc-cupied spaces on earth. But, havingdecided to make the world and to makeus, God also decided that once manhad sinned, He would redeem man.God might have redeemed man by anact of His divine Will; He chose not to doso. He chose, rather, to become man,so that as man He might not only, bysome fiat of His human freedom re-deem us, but might have a mortal fleshand a soul capable of suffering. In aword, the mystery of Christmas is themystery of God's love that chose to takeon our human form in order to show Hislove for us by suffering.

The only ultimate reason forBethlehem is Jerusalem; the only rea-son in God's mind for becoming a Childwas so that He might, as man, die onthe Cross. In a word, the mystery ofChristmas is the mystery of God's un-fathomable love that wants to suffer.God took on human flesh so that Hemight be able to endure pain. That isthe mystery of Christmas, the mysteryof God's love, in order that loving, Hemight endure the Cross.

What is the mystery of the Eucha-rist? It is the same. You would think thatGod's love would have been satisfied

with His becoming man and as manliving, suffering and dying for our sins.And having once died, rising from thedead and returning as man to the Fa-ther from whom He came. But no, themystery of God's love is that He in-vented a way of showing His love for usnot only by being with us and near usbut God even invented a way of beinginside of us. All of this tells us a lot aboutwhat love means.

Love wants to show that it loves. Itis not satisfied with sentiments or words.Love wants to prove its love in deeds;better, it wants to show its love in pain.Love wants to be near the one it loves,to be united with the one it loves. All ofthis is hidden behind the mystery of theEucharist, made possible by the mys-tery of Christmas, because these twomysteries are really one. The Eucharistis merely an extension, a continuation,of what happened 2000 years ago inBethlehem. Because Mary gave birth tothe Son of God, we now have the Fleshof the Son of God near us, with us, andwhen we receive Him in Communion,within us.

Finally, what is the lesson? Thelesson of Christmas and the Eucharistmust be obvious by now. God does

Christmas and the Eucharist Capt. Mervin John Lobo

(Contd.. on p. 49)


nothing in vain. He did not choose to become man nordoes He remain man in our midst except that He wantsto evoke from us something of the same kind of lovethat He showed during His life on earth and still showsus in His life in the Eucharist. Jesus Christ gives us HisFlesh and Blood to adore, worship and nourish oursouls on, so that we might live with His life. What Hewants us to do therefore, and this is the lesson, is to loveHim as He has been loving us.

How has He been loving us? First of all, He lovesus in simplicity. Is there anything more simple than achild, or anything more simple than the round wafer ofthe Eucharist? God wants us to love Him in simplicity.Above all, we must have no duplicity with God. Hewants our whole heart, not just part of it. We are to loveHim, therefore, simply, unqualifyingly, totally.

God wants us to love Him humbly. Is there any-thing more lowly than a baby? They are speechless,helpless; they must be fed and carried from place toplace. And is there anything more unpretentious thanwhat seems to be a piece of bread and a sip of wine?Yet as we know, real humility is always greatness hidingitself out of love. What a hard lesson for us to learn, tolove this God of ours humbly.

We are to love God and, allowing Him to do withus as He pleases, we are to love God obediently. WhenGod came into the world, He came as Scripture tells us,obedient first of all to His Father's Will; then, as a Childand through His growing manhood, He was obedientto His mother Mary and to Joseph. In the Eucharist, too,He is totally submissive. The moment a duly ordainedpriest pronounces the words of Consecration, JesusChrist comes down on the altar, He obeys. This is ourfaith. And perhaps this is the hardest lesson to learn, tolove God obediently. It means, as we know, obeyingGod not only interiorly or according to our own under-standing or interpretation of God's Will, it means obey-ing God as that divine Will is explained and interpretedfor us by His very fallible and weak human creatures.

These are the lessons that God wants us to learnfrom Christmas as a historical event and from Christ-mas as a perennial reality because, as you see, theEucharist is Christmas. Believing in Christ's Real Pres-ence, we have the grave responsibility of invoking, infaith, this Jesus, begging Him, pleading with Him thatHe might grant those graces—if need be, miraculousgraces—that the sinful world He came to redeem sodesperately needs. Jesus redeemed the world, but it isnot redeemed unless we cooperate with His grace. Andwe must cooperate with His grace not only for our-selves, but for the whole world, so that Jesus' cominginto the world will not, for any soul, have been in vain.


Christmas is just around the corner and once again thecurtain rises for the birthday celebration of JesusChrist, the Saviour of the world and the founder of

Christianity. The One who came into this world 2014 years agois the reason for jubilation even today. This is simply becausein Him we get the feeling that God is with us. It was for Him thathumankind anxiously, almost impatiently waited for centuries.

One of the greatest excitements during the Christmasseason is the preparation of the crib. History tells us that it wasSt. Francis of Assisi who pioneered the making of cribs. In acrib we have Baby Jesus, Mother Mary, St. Joseph, angels,the three wise men (Magi),shepherds and domesticanimals. There is a calmand serene atmosphere.

This Christmas, letus like angels spread thegood news among allthose who do not knowabout Jesus.

Christmas is thestory of a little babe bornto poor parents, Mary andJoseph in a little town in Bethlehem some 2014 years ago.

Christmas is not only a gift-giving time but also a time tobe recipient of God’s love and care. It is an attitude – an eventof the heart, not a season of the year. It is an event that shouldtouch a little of our life for an entire year. It is an occasion forjoy to ring throughout the chambers of the heart.

Christmas to Christians is a time for reflection and a timeto share one’s joys and sorrows. It is the time to reach out andtouch the life of another person with love and warmth. It is thetime to share love and friendship, care and concern.

Christmas reminds us of so many things like the crib,Santa Claus and the singing of carols.

Among the various celebrations connected with Christ-mas, the sending of cards to friends and relatives has becomea ritual.

Another feature of this festival is the installing of Christ-mas trees. Little fir trees or replicas of them are decorated andgifts are placed on them.

The tradition of Santa Claus originated in Belgium whereSan Nicholas became the patron saint of children. Today,Santa Claus is known by various names in different parts of theworld like Joulupukki. Sinster Klass, Grandfather Frost, PapaNoel. Julemanden, San Niklaw and Shengdan Laoren.

—Jubel D'Cruz, Dombivili

Christmas ---A festival of Joy


by Peter Castellino

Holly is connected to Christmasand associated festivals for centuries is a common name of

shrub groups and small trees-two bestknown are American and English hollyevergreen trees with glossy green leavesand red berries for making attractiveChristmas wreaths.

Holly is the common name ofAquifociacae member trees and shrubsin Central and South America.

Evergreen English Holly -IllexAquifoleum-common European hollygrown in North America has a closeassociation with Christmas and severalvarieties with variegated leaves andred, yellow ,white and black berries be-sides 300 species worldwide exist.-and15 species are from North America-ieFamily Aquifoleaceae and the Ameri-can Holly I Opaca too is similar.

The Christmas berry - Hetermelesarbuttifolia is a rose family member - anevergreen shrub or tree twenty feet or 6metres native to southern California'slow mountains has erect branches froma short trunk, sharply toothed shinyleaves, white flower clusters and persis-tent red fruits ripening in November andDecember-thus an excellent ornamen-tal in mild climates-its branches havered berries are sold for Christmas deco-ration is tollon, toyon or Christmas holly.The US and Canada or American spe-cies -15 in number are 40 to 50 feet-12to 15 metres tall with dark green leath-ery leaves and spines on edges and redfruit not red berries but drupes-fruitswith stones on the pistillate or femaletrees are poisonous.

UK's favourite ornamental tree isEnglish holly of hedges with white flow-ers bloom in May when the hawthornmakes the English countryside whitewith blossoms and Hollywood is a veryhard and close grain used in musicalinstruments, furniture and interior deco-ration-the inner bark has a sticky mate-

rial called birdlime.Leaves of American species are

made into a tea like drink called mate.The American Holly popular for its

decorative and spiny leaves and redberries have become scarce as a resultand their hard white wood is used forcabinet making and related purposes isclosely grained and polishes easily.

Yerba Mate or Paraguay Tea-IParaguarienses ios an important tea likebeverage in South America and tea andother medicinal preparations are pro-duced from some family members likeYaupon and Winterberry or Feverish ofE North America.

Wild or mountain holly-nemopanthus mucronota is a decidiousE North American shrub and many spe-cies of this family are used as ornamen-tals.

Holly is classified in the division ofMaynaliophyta class Maynioporida Or-der Celastralis Family Aquifolia icia.

Holly was used in houses andchurches at Christmas tide and namedholy tree thus the name holly.Like the songs ,Christmas and festivalsand trees associated with holly its ori-gins are in Northern Europe where itwas a plant important to the pagans-itsgreen leaves with slightly jagged edgesis why the Druids used it as a ceremonialhead-wear when they went into the for-ests and the name of the Druid priests ofancient Britain is derived from the oaktree they venerated.

Holly's uses of the Ibex tree leavesare from the Druid's pre-Christian prac-tice of decorating altars with it in winterand holly was offered to God - Saturnduring the Roman festival Saturnallia-the sacred plant of Saturn was highlyvalued by Romans-all Saturn's imagesare shown with himand holly besidesbeing a special gift interchanged with ahigh regard for its symbolism.

Holly gained importance whenChristians put it in decorations on doors

' The Christmas Holly'

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

from

Diana FernandesBloomingdale Public Relations

Contact: [email protected]: www.bloomingdalepr.com

(Contd.. on p. 51)


W ith Christmas uponus, I could

not let this season goby without penning mythoughts on how lifecheers up at this timeof the year, or rather, itis supposed to!

It is thought to be atime to put all ourtroubles and worrieson hold. But is it practically possible? For that to happen, we mightas well cease to live then. Oh Com’on!! Who are we kidding?!However, with shopping-takes-the-blues-away concept, we’d ratherbe mauled at the Malls, than queue up for confessions. Andalthough this is supposedly the time to forgive and forget, mendfences and build bridges, call up or write to long forgotten friends;so clichéd one might say, we’d rather doll up, embrace and throwkisses in the air – all in the name of Christmas wishes or the moresecular “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” as it’s calledtoday. Besides, everything is so commercialized now that evensanctity has become a commodity.

In a cynical view, Christmas has become so divorced from religionthat there is little conflict over indulging in its celebration. “Lets allCelebrate” culture has penetrated our society in terms of SantaClaus, ritual of gifting, the Christmas dance and general festivity;not forgetting the Christmas rum cake!

Interestingly, on our social networks this season some folks arebusy analyzing who is actually driving the social sleigh – Santa orRudolph?! Unfortunately, the reason for this season featuresnowhere.

I would like to wish everyone in their Celebration for Christmas tohave a sense of preparation, expectation, security and love. Let usthank God for the gift of His Son and welcome Christ back intoChristmas today.

Let His presence take precedence over our presents.

to avoid persecution.Holly's power to prevent unfore-

seeable trouble was not only for prob-lems early creatures could inflict butalso demonic forces so hanging hollyon home doors could stall the entry ofterrifying spectres likely to attack onholy days.

Gaining more acceptance as anessential Christmas festival symbolholly's purpose was less recognized byChristians in yearly celebrations and itssymbolism is to Christ's crucifixion wherehe wore a crown of thorns causing himto bleed from his head and thus hollyresembles Christ's makeshift crown andthe berries symbolised the blood thatoozed forth from him during his darkesthours and so it is more of a religioussymbol with metaphorical descriptionof the popular plant.

It is of two types the She Holly andthe He Holly distuishable by leaf prop-erties- the she holly with a smoothersurface making it more feminine whilethe he holly is more prickly and roughermaking it more masculine.

Holly is viewed as a decorativepiece in homes and festivals but itshistory in more significant in grand reli-gious traditions and pagan belief sys-tems.

Thus we see the importance of theChristmas Holly.

Trees were worshipped as godsand dwellings of good and evil spiritsand still revered in some parts of theworld and sacred trees and groves ex-isted and still exist.

The Bible makes early reference tothe tree of knowledge-the pomegranitewas revered by Jews and Persians asthe forbidden fruit.

The asoka or sorrow-less tree -Saraea indica and boa tree -Ficus religi-ose is sacred to the Buddhists-the firsttree under which Gautama Buddha wasborn and the other under which he medi-tated and attained enlightenment.

The Hindu divinity Vishnu -Visnuwas born under the bo tree and thebanyan tree -Ficus benghalensis is sa-cred to Hindus who believe Brahmawas made into a banyan.


Just-A-Pause :The Presen(ts)ce @ Christmas

by Arlene Clarence


Has the birth of theChild Jesus trulychanged the history of

humanity? Is it true that thepowerful understood immedi-ately the importance of thatbirth? Why do we measuretime based on that event inBethlehem?

What is the significance in historyof the figure of the Child Jesus and,specifically, of the crib made by St.Francis?

We know that the early Chris-tians, all of them being of the Jewishreligion, observed the Sabbath, but onthe following day, that is the presentSunday, they gathered to commemo-rate the Resurrection. Hence, the firstcelebration held par excellence wasEaster. Subsequently, other events ofJesus' life began to be celebrated,such as the birth fixed on Dec. 25,namely, on the same day in whichpreviously the Sol invictus wascelebrated, that is, the celebration of

not being overcome by darkness,given that the winter solstice hadpassed, the days began to be longerand light imposed itself on the dark-ness of the night. From celebrationthey passed to representation andfrom there to pilgrimages toBethlehem, the city of David, fromwhose descent Jesus was born.

The pilgrimages -- at once anexpression and incentive of therelationship with the places of Jesus'life -- were the engine for the narrationand representation of Jesus' human-ity. It is in this context that BrotherFrancis of Assisi's desire is situated,expressed to the people of Greccio,Italy, in 1223, in order to see "withhuman eyes," how the Child Jesuswas laid to rest in a crib between thedonkey and the ox. And thus, onChristmas Eve, on the crib where thetwo animals of tradition were, theEucharist was celebrated in such away that one could see "with the eyes

of the body" the bread and wineconsecrated and believe, thanks tothe Holy Spirit, in the presence of theBody and Blood of Christ.

ZENIT: In a secularized worldsuch as today's, the birth of the ChildJesus is trivialized and inserted in thecontext of a "myth," in which childrenalone can believe. According toChristians, why has this birth changedthe world?

Father Messa: It could be that theworst demystification of Christmas isnot that of believing that it is a myth,but its reduction to a celebration ofkindness, altruism, of helping theneedy. It's not that these things areunimportant, or that they are notpresent in the Gospel, but what is keyis that Jesus came to us because hehas opted for our poverty. He gives ushis hand to the end, when his arm willbe stretched on the cross. As the PoorClare Sister Chiara Tarcisia, of the St.

The Many Meanings of Christmas

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Clare pro-monastery of Assisi, said inthe last months of her life: "What isimportant in life is to love, but espe-cially to allow oneself to be loved!"And Christmas is a propitious time toallow oneself to be loved. This doesn'tlead us to passivity because Jesusloves us as we are, but he doesn'tleave us as we are. His presencetransforms and initiates a new human-ity.

Why do Christians speak of Jesusas Savior?

Jesus of Nazareth -- a villagefrom which, according to some,nothing good could come -- walkedon the roads of Palestine and, ashappens with other persons, they alsowondered who He was. The answersto such questions were the mostdiverse, but one who is not enclosedin his own schemes realizes that everyanswer is inadequate or, better said,not very exhaustive. And thus hisreality as Messiah was increasinglyrecognized, that is, the anointed bythe Most High and, hence, the Savior.

However, the person of Jesus, evenwhen arriving at some definitivecertainties in the dogmas, opensconstant questions and, as the saintsshow us, there is always somethingmore to astonish us; that is, some-thing to pause to contemplate withwonder.

The date, the star, the Wise Men, arethese the elements to rememberChristmas as an event that happenedin history?

The account of Jesus has beengiven within the coordinates of history,that is, in a place and time: the placeis that of Palestine and the time is -- aswe say in the Creed -- "under PontiusPilate." However, this isn't enoughbecause many saw his humanity,listened to his word, admired also themiracles he wrought, but only somebelieved in his divinity. As St. Francisof Assisi says in his first Admonition,the disciples saw his humanity "withhuman eyes," but they believed in hisdivinity. Hence, in Jesus there is a realhistory but also something thatsurpasses history; that is why it isimportant, that there should be a

reason open to the mystery and areasoned faith. Otherwise, we will fallinto rationalism or fideism.

Jesus is a rational event, butwhich surpasses reason and whenreason wishes to understand every-thing, that is, when it has the preten-sion of understanding it all, one fallsinto rationalism. Likewise, when faithexcludes history and the discoveriesof reason, it becomes a fideism thatappears deviant, even violent.

In addition to Christians, are thereothers who have given importance tothe birth that occurred more than2,000 years ago?

Why does the greater part ofhumanity mark time from thatbirth?

In 313 the Edict of Milan was issuedwhich in a certain sense marked theend of the persecutions; subsequentlyChristianity became the officialreligion. Thus, the computation of timebegan to be marked from his birth,recognizing in it the fulfillment of theancient prophecies and promises, aswell as the beginning of a new era.



After ‘A Christmas Carol’, CharlesDickens wrote several otherChristmas stories. But none ofthem were as successful as thefirst.

Every story has an end. But in life,every end is a new beginning.

****

Life always offers you a secondchance. It’s called tomorrow.

****

Life is a book. Every day is a newpage. Every month is a new chapter.Every year is a new series.

****

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Stick posters on walls with thehelp of toothpaste. This can bescrapped off and will not damagethe walls.

Did you know that?Red breasted Robins appear

on Christmas cards, advent calen-dars, ornaments, Christmas treedecorations and many images andpictures associated with Xmas.There are several stories as to whythe Robin bird is seen as a festivebird.

In Victorian times the postmenwore a red tunic as part of theiruniform. They were nicknamedRobin Redbreasts after the birds.Each postman was a servant of theCrown whose regal colour also con-tained red. Postal workers oftenworked over the Christmas holidayand even delivered presents andcards on Christmas Day. This asso-ciation earned the Robin with hisred breast a place on an early Christ-mas card and started a popularChristmas image.

Compiled by:Jubel D'Cruz, Dombivili

I heard the bells onChristmas DayTheir old, familiar carols play,And wild and sweetThe words repeatOf peace on earth,good-will to men!


What is Karma?Karma is the Sanskrit word for action.It is equivalent to Newton’s law of‘every action must have a reaction’.When we think, speak or act weinitiate a force that will react accord-ingly. This returning force maybemodified, changed or suspended, butmost people will not be able eradicateit. This law of cause and effect is notpunishment, but is wholly for the sakeof education or learning. A personmay not escape the consequences ofhis actions, but he will suffer only if hehimself has made the conditions ripefor his suffering.

Ignorance of the law is no excusewhether the laws are man-made oruniversal. To stop being afraid and tostart being empowered in the worldsof karma and reincarnation, here iswhat you need to know about karmiclaws.

1. THE GREAT LAW

- “As you sow, so shall you reap”. Thisis also known as the “Law of Causeand Effect”.

- Whatever we put out in the Universeis what comes back to us.

- If what we want is Happiness, Peace,Love, Friendship… Then we shouldBE Happy, Peaceful, Loving and aTrue Friend.

2. CREATION

- Life doesn’t just HAPPEN, it requiresour participation.

- We are one with the Universe, bothinside and out.

- Whatever surrounds us gives usclues to our inner state.

- BE yourself, and surround yourselfwith what you want to have presentin your Life.

3. HUMILITY

- What you refuse to accept, willcontinue for you.

- If what we see is an enemy, orsomeone with a character trait thatwe find to be negative, then weourselves are not focused on ahigher level of existence.

4. GROWTH

- “Wherever you go, there you are”.- For us to GROW in Spirit, it is we

who must change – and not thepeople, places or things around us.

- The only given we have in our lives is

OURSELVES and that is the onlyfactor we have control over.

- When we change who and what weare within our heart our life followssuit and changes too.

5. RESPONSIBILITY

- Whenever there is something wrongin my life, there is something wrongin me.

- We mirror what surrounds us – andwhat surrounds us mirrors us; this isa Universal Truth.

- We must take responsibility what isin our life.

6. CONNECTION

- Even if something we do seemsinconsequential, it is very importantthat it gets done as everything in theUniverse is connected.

- Each step leads to the next step, and

12 Little Known Laws Of KarmaThat Will Change Your Life

(Contd.. on p. 57)


so forth and so on.- Someone must do the initial work to

get a job done.- Neither the first step nor the last are

of greater significance,- As they were both needed to accom-

plish the task.- Past-Present-Future they are all

connected…

7. THE LAW OF FOCUS

- You can’t think of two things at thesame time.

- When our focus is on SpiritualValues, it is impossible for us tohave lower thoughts such as greedor anger.

8. THE LAW OF GIVING ANDHOSPITALITY

- If you believe something to betrue,then sometime in your life youwill be called upon to demonstratethat particular truth.


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- Here is where we put what we CLAIMthat we have learned, into actual

9. PRACTICE. THE LAW OFHERE AND NOW

- Looking backward to examine whatwas, prevents us from being totallyin the HERE AND NOW.

- Old thoughts, old patterns ofbehaviour, old dreams…

- Prevent us from having new ones.

10. THE LAW OF CHANGE

- History repeats itself until we learnthe lessons that we need to changeour path.

11. PATIENCE AND REWARD

- All Rewards require initial toil.

- Rewards of lasting value require

patient and persistent toil.

- True joy follows doing what we’resuppose to be doing, and waitingfor the reward to come in on its owntime.

12. SIGNIFICANCE AND INSPI-RATION

- You get back from somethingwhatever YOU have put into it.

- The true value of something is adirect result of the energy and intentthat is put into it.

- Every personal contribution is also acontribution to the Whole.

- Lack lustre contributions have noimpact on the Whole, nor do theywork to diminish it.

- Loving contributions bring life to, andinspire, the Whole.



The other day, I came home fromwork and wanted to check myFacebook and E-mail. I made myself acup of coffee and sat down at mycomputer, pushed the power buttonand nothing happened…

I tried a couple more times, thenchecked if it’s plugged into the wall –nothing. I later discovered that it wasrelatively easy to fix, but I had to ask abunch of people until I managed tocome up with a solution. The wholeordeal got me thinking that, if thishappened to me, it must happen tomany people. This is why I’ve createda simple guide to saving one’scomputer.

The computer won’tturn onFirst, you have to ascertain whether itis the computer that isn’t turning on,or just the screen. Most computerstoday have cooling fans that make a“fwoosh” noise when they’re working.If your computer is making that noise,but the screen is still dark, clickhere for the screen section.

Now that we know that the computerisn’t turning on, follow these steps:DesktopCheck to see if the computer isplugged into the power socket. (Makesure you check both the outlet, and thecomputer itself, to see that the powercord is indeed connected on bothends)

Unplug the computer from the walland leave it unplugged.

Check the cord for damages.

Press the power button twice – this isdone to discharge any static electricitythat might be interfering with thecomputer.

Plug the computer back into thepower socket and turn it on.

If the computer still won’t turn on,unplug it again, and check anothersocket – one you know is working.(It’s possible that the power outletyou’ve been using isn’t working)

LaptopCheck that the power adapter isplugged into the wall and to thecomputer.

Inspect the cord for damage.

Try a different power socket.

If possible, unplug the laptop,remove the battery and check it forvisible damage, and then plug thebattery back into the laptop, plugthe power adapter and try again.

If during these steps you see orhear sparks or electrical flashes, orhappen to smell smoke, unplug thecomputer and get a technician.

The computer turns on, thenpowers off(either instantly or within a couple ofminutes)In a laptop, this usually indicatesthat the battery is either drained orfaulty. To be sure, plug the laptopinto the wall and see if the issuepersists. If it works, it means that thebattery was drained, and if theproblem repeats whenever youunplug the laptop, it means that the

The Computer Won’t Turn On?

Agnelo Rodrigues,Wadala E

(Contd.. on p. 59)


battery is faulty, and you may need toreplace it.

In a desktop,

it can mean that the computer isoverheating and powering down toavoid hardware damage, or that oneor more hardware pieces are notworking properly. Usually, overheatingoccurs when an internal cooling fanisn’t working, or that the computermight be full of dust, which preventsthe proper dissipation of heat. If youdo not know how to clean yourcomputer or change the fan, or if theissue persists - contact a technician.

The computer turns on, butthe screen won’tIn a desktop, check that the screen ison. Most screens have a “sleep”function, which switches them offwhen you power down your computerto save power. The best way to knowif your screen is turned off, or stuck in“sleep” mode, is to look for the powerindicator. If the little light (usually atthe bottom of the screen) is off, try thefollowing:

Push the ‘ON’ button, on the screen.(Repeat after each step) Check that the screen’s power cord isconnected to the screen and thepower socket.

Like(The 3 most common display cablesand connectors)

Unplug the cord and inspect fordamages.

Unplug the cord from the wall and testanother power outlet.

If the problem persists – it mayindicate that the screen is faulty andmay need to be replaced.

If the power indicator is on or flash-

ing, that means that the screen isreceiving power, but did not get the“wake up” signal from the computer.

Check that the cord connecting thescreen to the computer is plugged onboth ends.

Unplug the cord and inspect fordamages.

If the problem persists, it may indicatethat either the cord is not working, thescreen is faulty or that yourcomputer’s graphics card is notworking properly – so contact atechnician.

In a laptopTurn the laptop off. Unplug from the power outlet.

Remove the battery for 30 seconds,and then put it back in

Plug it into the wall and power it onagain.

If the screen doesn’t switch on, or theissue repeats itself, it indicates ahardware problem, and you shouldcontact a technician.

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Contributions are also welcome on creative writings,current topics, Poems, Humour, Jokes,

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The Secular Citizen99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor,

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(Contd.. from p. 58)Check any newlyinstalled hardware:Many operating systems, especiallyWindows, can conflict with new driv-ers. The driver may be badly written,or it may conflict with another pro-cess. Windows will usually notify youabout devices that are causing aproblem, or have a problem. Tocheck this use the Device Manager,this can be accessed by entering theControl Panel, clicking the Systemicon, clicking the Hardware tab, andclicking on Device Manager. Usethis to check and arrange the prop-erties of hardware.

Run a virus andmalware scan:Performance problems can becaused by malware on the com-puter. Running a virus scan can un-earth any problems. Use a commonlyupdated virus scanner (such asNorton Antivirus or Avast! Antivirus)and a commonly updated malwarescanner (such as Spybot Search &Destroy).


Christmas – Songs in the Night

The Islamic Militant (IM) juggernautwas advancing menacingly towardsthe Syrian town of Kobani.

Teenager Perwin Mustafa joined theResistance Movement to defend hercity along with three of her friends.

Two months later, Perwin wasmortally wounded and died onNovember 5.

All her friends were also killed by theIM. The town was plunged intomourning.

In a stark study covering 162 coun-tries, by the Institute for Economicsand Peace (IEP), a global think tankfor World Peace, only 11 wereconflict free at present.

Among the eleven countries wasCosta Rica, which abolished its armyin 1948.

Yet small arms possession hasincreased everywhere.

Apart from the macro level tragedy,we are intimately familiar with ourpersonal and communitarian grief atthe loss of our dear ones or personaland family tragedies in health,finance, and relational intimacy hurts.

As the world celebrates Christmasamidst glittering Malls, Homes, andFestive accoutrements, we wonderabout the Real meaning of Christ-mas.

Christmas is a season of joy. Yet it isalso a season of sadness andsorrow.

The Savior was born in a borrowedstable. He Went about Facing Rejec-tion and Humiliation. The Last Supperwas held in a borrowed room. He wascrucified as a Criminal outside thegates (Hebrews13:5) to avoid pollu-tion of the city He Chose to Live in.

Mother Mary held the Dead Body ofher Crucified Son.

Thousands of innocent babes wereslaughtered by Herod.

The massacre continues by ouracceptance of X-Spam-Subject: YESX-Spam-Subject: YES Abortion andour preference for Recreational Sexover Pro Creational Generationalcontinuity.

In his darkness, Job praised “God, mymaker, who giveth songs in the night.”- (Job 35:10).It was a divine song, which Habakkuksang, when in the night he said,“Although the fig-tree shall not blos-som, neither shall fruit be in the vines;the labor of the olive shall fail, and thefields shall yield no meat; the flockshall be cut off from the fold, and

there shall be no herd in the stalls: yetI will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in theGod of my salvation.” (Habakkuk3:17 -18).

In the darkness surrounding our lives,let us remember the Love and Mercyof our Divine Savior. ‘He Who Did NotSpare His Own Son but handed Himover for us all, how will He not alsoGive us everything else along withHim?’(Romans8:32).

St. Paul mentioned that the human earis not allowed to hear heavenly music.(2Corinthians12:4). The humanhearing is limited to about 20db –200db. Yet the shepherds heardAngelic music.

Since our Maker gives songs in thenight, amidst the celebrations let usremember the Angelic message: “Andsuddenly there was with the angel amultitude of the heavenly host prais-ing God and saying, “Glory to God nthe highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. (Luke 2: 12-13).

A Merry Christmas and a Joyous2015!

Denis Khan


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72 December 22, 2014Bumper X’mas Issue 2014RNI No. 56987/92 Registered No. MH/MR/South-139/2012-14

Printed and Published by Lawrence Coelho at The Secular Citizen, 99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor, Harihar Nivas, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001. Tel.: 2269 3578, 2265 4924,Printers: The Secular Citizen, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Editor : Philip Myaboo Email: [email protected], [email protected]

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secular citizen vol.23 no.51 dated 22nd december 2014

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