'Discover God anew this Christmas' - bishops
Malta's bishops have urged people not to be "afraid of the risk of faith", while encouraging believers to give witness of their faith in God in a way that is seen, felt and brings change around them.
In their first pastoral letter during Advent, Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said: "God is no longer relevant in many people's lives... and we are experiencing how the ideology of progress that excludes God can work against the human being himself."
The bishops said the world recently experienced this when, due to exaggerated greed, it entered into an economic crisis. This, they warned, was leading to a culture that was threatening harmony, and clouding relationships that once used to sustain the family. It is a culture that "misleads the human being because it promises various forms of salvation that in effect result as insufficient as they do not fulfill (the) spirit".
The bishops said: "The story of Bethlehem is not a story for children. It is a story that continues to happen and could shed light on the way we are living today..."
They said when God became a human being it enriched humanity with great dignity and it is only He who can give us true freedom and full dignity.
"However, today we (have) turned this truth into a fable. In the name of progress and freedom, the dignity of the human being is very often easily vilified in a culture where everything is measured according to efficiency and utility.
"The concept of unrestrained individual freedom is turning ever more into violence in society, also in domestic violence. The search for satisfaction is leading to an emptiness which many are trying to fill by resorting to drugs, alcohol and gambing," they warned. They also referred to the abuse of IT to spread pornography.
Although life had today changed for the better, there would nevertheless always be things that hurt and destroyed people, that created obstacles and robbed their peace, and we would continue suffering from different forms of slavery, the bishops said.
The Church would like to be present in the lives of many, to accompany them and help them so they may sincerely search for God, and find Him, they added.
While acknowledging that Christmas always brings joy and a sense of altruism and solidarity, the bishops noted that it is also a time when it is easier for the Word of God to be lost in the many activities that celebrations bring about with them.
The bishops' wish for Christmas is for people to "discover God anew" in their personal lives.
"Let us not end up searching for God only when we are with our back against the wall during suffering or in the face of death," they concluded.
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Joseph Aquilina
Dec 2nd 2008, 22:53
@ Dr. David Pollina,
May I say that you are putting emphasies on a day rather han an event. Does it matter if we celebrate Chrismas on December 25th or January 6th? As long as the celebration is to honour the birth of "Yeshua" Jesus our Saviour and it does not matter what day we celebrate it. As a matter of fact, we should celebrate it daily as a reminder that we have hope in the Son of God and not in the sun god as you put it. Have a blessed Christmas.
HJoseph Aquilina, CANADA
Dr. David Pollina
Dec 1st 2008, 15:46
@J Aquilina / A Roberts, Do you seriously believe that christmas is a unique and original holiday?? That 'Jesus' was born on that day?? I suppose no one ever taught any differently in church school, but I would encourage you to seek the truth of history.
"Christmas" is the re-naming given to the feast of Solas Invictus by the Catholic church in the fourth century CE. Solas Invictus itself was a re-naming of various feasts such as Mithras - all of which were celebrated on 25 December for more than 1000 years before the birth of a young Jew named "Y'shua" (often errantly referred to as 'Jesus'). Before that, it had nothing to do with his birth - virgin or otherwise.
In fact, if you study your bible, it tells you that Y'shua was born in the fall. The best scholarly candidate for the date is 11 September, 3 BCE (Julian calendar) - a date supported by Luke and Revelation.
So, how did his birthday come to be celebrated on the day given to the birthday of the sun-god? Simply, Constantine found out it was easier to get the pagans to give up their gods than their parties.
Joseph Aquilina
Nov 30th 2008, 22:37
May I remind Dr. David Pollina that CHRIST MAS was not invented by any church. The first Christmas was created on that first day when Jesus our Lord and Saviour was born to a virgin maiden ``MARY`` in a stable. It is a gift from our Father GOD so that we might be saved.
It is true that it became too commercialized and the thoughts of our children are directed to toys instead of the true meaning of Christmas. I remember when my dad used to make a new ``presepju`` each year which kept the thought of the meaning of Christmas inplanted in our minds. I remember the beautiful feeling of the Midnight Mass at tal` Karmnu in Valletta where I was an altar boy. And the singing of Christmas carols as I sang in the boys` choir there. I also remember in my teenage years when we spent the night at the Catholic Action and after mass at St. Catherine`s Church (I believe) near the bus terminal we walked back to Palazzo Garaffa (Old Bakery Street) singing carols through Kingsway. That is Christmas.
Joseph Aquilina, CANADA
Anthony Roberts
Nov 30th 2008, 20:01
Food for thought is that Christmas was created by Christians when Jesus Christ (see the connection!!) was born. Science only comes into it if one really cannot acknowledge this sign of faith. Christmas became commercial during the Victorian era, it is not something that has been going on forever, more food for thought.
JB Caruana
Nov 30th 2008, 16:40
'The bishops said the world recently experienced this when, due to exaggerated greed, it entered into an economic crisis.'...Curia..please take note...you might be next for a crisis due to greed. The Curia should have transparent procedures when conducting anything that affects it's followers.
Get your house in order.
Dr. David Pollina
Nov 30th 2008, 15:44
Perhaps... a TRUE discovery of the Almighty might include the fact that Christmas is a creation of the Catholic Church which is now unhappy when commercial interests do to it what the Church did to it in the first place - redefining the Roman Solas Invictus pagan celebrations into a 'holiday' not sanctioned by Him.... Food for thought.