COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS JOY

Since the beginning of Advent you would have noticed the glow of the Christmas lights twinkling on the trees around our Church compound as well as the façade of the Church. The crib and Jesse Tree have been set up in the Church by the efforts of the Tamil speaking youth. I too have set a wonderful nativity set and Christmas tree in the parish office.

Christmas is traditionally a season dedicated to wishing joy and love to our loved ones and friends. This year will be my third Christmas with you. I hope and pray that for this year’s Christmas I may bring joy, love and heartwarming thoughts to inspire your families, loved ones and close friends.

Before I became a priest I used to sit down and write Christmas cards to my close friends and relatives. I used to choose some expressive and perfect verses and quotes for Christmas cards. I too took extra care when I wrote the Christmas cards and made sure I wouldn’t make any mistakes on them. I used to keep my Christmas cards, which I received over the years and now I have disposed of them. Since I became a priest I haven’t sent out cards due to my commitments.

Sending Christmas cards is quite costly nowadays because we have to purchase cards and spend on postage as well. But by sending Christmas cards to our loved ones and close friends they feel appreciated when they open our cards and read our warm wishes. These Christmas wishes are sure to kindle warmth in the hearts of our families, friends and loved ones.

Presently, most of us don’t take time to sit down and write Christmas cards. Sending Christmas cards to people whom we are in contact with, is unpopular today. In this digital age it is much easier to just wake up on Christmas morning, type a greeting and just click on our smart phones and send greetings to all our contacts. All our Whatsapp group and Facebook friends will receive our electronic greetings in the blink of an eye.

We all have been waiting eagerly for the ‘Christmas Get Together’ event these past 3 months. The good news is that we have collected the amount that we need. I really thank all of you for your prayers, support, encouragement, contributions and the spirit of working together towards this event. It is going to be a beautiful charitable time of the year for the parishioners of St Joseph. We are going to bring so much loveliness into this mega event. On this day we shall get together many families and children from various cultures and backgrounds, friends of other faiths to have a special time with them through fellowship whilst we entertain them with a variety of events planned for the day.

Let’s give our share of Christmas joy to all those who are going to be present at this ‘Christmas Get Together’ and we shall proclaim the joyous Good News that “God is with us”. I give thanks for all my dearest parishioners and the blessings of a Merry Christmas to you and your family, and to all your loved ones. May you experience lots of love, laughter and joy this Christmas!