REACHING FOR THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM










Christmas Eve has been a special time for most of us. Many of my non-Christian friends look forward to this day. The night mass (which is still referred to be ‘The Midnight Mass’, though in most of the cities, it gets over before midnight) is one of the many things they look forward to attend…

“My son has come on a Christmas vacation from Australia,” Kannan said to me when we met in our Tai Chi class, today, “He, my wife and I have always loved to attend the Midnight Mass on the OLPS (Our Lady of Perpetual Succor) grounds… We are excited to be there tonight.”

Kannan also recounted their visit to the Shirdi shrine some days ago. I love his open-mindedness when it comes to religious beliefs and practices. I have heard him speak with loads of respect whenever he would speak about faiths other than his own.

“When my son was leaving the country, for the first time, to pursue his higher studies in Australia, he asked me to take our car to OLPS church. He went inside (and my wife and I followed him) the church and spent about fifteen minutes in silence. From there, we continued our journey to the airport. So, he is more excited than rest of us to attend the Mass, tonight.”

I have always felt, that the spirit of Christmas transcends all the narrow confines of our individual  religious faiths… Right from little children to very senior citizens – yes, we all mellow down when overwhelmed by this spirit.

Last evening, I got this video from a parent of one of my students. She is a Sindhi, and the message conveyed through the video made me sit up and say, “Hey, that’s the Christmas Spirit!”






And, today morning, there was this video, on the miraculous 'Christmas Truce of 1914' (in the midst of World War 1),  sent to me by my brother, Vivek:






Most of us have never experienced the devastating and utterly gloomy war-times… Leave alone the experience of being on the war-front… and leave alone the experience of a World War! Those are truly the darkest of all times… and, therefore, when I watched this video, I went into a deep silence…


Yes, today is Christmas Eve… A beautiful time for Hope, Love and Peace. There was this simple yet effective Tai Chi exercise, this morning. It was named ‘Reaching for the Moon’. As I was flowing in its rhythm, I kept remembering the Star of Bethlehem… that has constantly lived there up as our beacon of Hope…

Merry Christmas to you all, my dear and near ones.


GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: The New Divine Hunanity

Videos: YouTube/Christmas Qawalli Mayookh Band

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