Christmas is a time for self-searching

Dec 19, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

We are in the time of the Nativity, but the sentiment could very well be not one of Christmas, but more of Good Friday. Because of chaos and confusions in our world. In other parts of the globe there is killing of children in war zones and also killing of LGBTQ + persons and others. In other experiences, there is the exodus of refugees, and migrants to other countries for greener pastures but who suffer from xenophobia etc. There is also racism, sexism, and all the isms and schisms everywhere.

In the modern church there is power and clericalism and growing religious fanaticism/fundamentalism that are offshoots of right-wing Christian ideology, centered around a theology of prosperity and division. On the flipside, there is a growing number of non-believers who have no connection with religious doctrines but practice a spiritually and religiously autonomy. There is also the culture of superficiality, and the velocity to acquire information and resolve problems without applying critical reasoning and dialogue.

In the Guyanese society, there is the rich who are getting richer and the poor who are getting poorer, there is misery, gender violence, killing of women, garbage on the streets and waterways, suicides and the exploitation of the environment. There are children who suffer from sexual abuses at homes and the breakdown of family structure.

Furthermore, from a socio-economic and political perspective, there is the great obsession about the oil boom which makes many ponder how the money will be spent so that all can have a dignified life in Guyana. And as we are in the month of December, there is the preparation for Christmas. Which for most, takes on a commercial and materialistic aspect. Example: to consume, and most time abuse the use of alcohol as we merry ourselves for the holidays. Then there is the humanitarian element of giving and sharing or reaching out to the less fortunate besides the spiritual part to prepare ourselves by attending church services to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day, December 25^th.

However, contrastingly, internally in our lives, there are also chaos, confusions, evils, and obsessions that dominate our hearts and minds on a daily basis. Including our approach to deal with problems where most times we act vindictively to others and jump to conclusions, judging people without seeing the opportunity to understand and work things out mutually. These our interior chaos and problems metaphorically turn off the lights of the Nativity trees and fills them with darkness which should create an environment of joy and childlike innocence that still exists in all humans.

In the nativity story, it relates that the birth of Jesus took place outside the city, in the middle of the darkest night, in an animal shed away from all the chaos in the city and wider society. Nothing was known either in Rome, the capital of the empire, or in Jerusalem, the religious center of the People of Israel. Almost no one noticed, only those from humble and peasant environments, such as the shepherds of Bethlehem. They came to the shed where the Divine Child was shivering from the cold.

As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’s coming, the Nativity story offers us the key to comprehend some of the most inscrutable mysteries of our afflicted existence. Human beings have always questioned others and themselves: why is our existence so fragile? Why all the problems confusions and sufferings? And God was silent. But in the Nativity an answer is found: Jesus made himself as fragile as we humans through sufferings and chaos. This was God’s answer: not in words but with a gesture of identification. Hence, we are no longer alone in our immense loneliness, sufferings and struggles in Guyana, God is with us. His name is Jesus! A blessed Christmas to all!

Yours faithfully,

Medino Abraham SJ

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