True Message of Christmas

The True Message of Christmas

(Published in Central Chronicle, Bhopal Dec. 23, 2009.)




              Christmas is the commemoration of the Birth of Christ that took place more than two thousand years ago. December 25 has been celebrated, as the birthday of Jesus Christ, and Birthday, whose ever it may be, is always matter of great joy, We start the preparations for Christmas around thirty days before the actual day. There is lot of decoration done, we clean and decorate our houses, send greeting cards to our near and dear ones, prepare a crib and off course, participate with full devotion in the liturgical celebrations. Often on Christmas day we invite our friends and relatives for a sumptuous meal to share our joy. This is what we normally perceive what the Christmas is, but is that all, the Christmas is about?


Christmas is not just an event of celebration, something celebrated outwardly. It’s a great event not only in the life a Christian but in the history of salvation of whole humanity. It’s not only the commemoration of the birth of Jesus in a manger at Bethlehem, but it’s an event that marks coming down of God Himself to meet humanity, to live among best of His creation, the human beings, so that they give up their evil ways turn to God and to be saved. It is an event when God’s love towards humanity crossed all boundaries. The “Days of Advent” are given to us not just for decorating our houses, but also to decorate our hearts and prepare ourselves internally as well as spiritually. God’s decision to dwell among humanity humanity, is an invitation for all of us to turn towards God. God loved the world so much that He gave His only son (Jesus Christ) to save all human beings, and to teach us to love one another. Now it is our turn to do our part.


Is there any religion that teaches that loving one another is sin and harmful hence should not be practiced? Has God ever asked a person to do something that is impossible for him/her? The only true message of Christmas is this: God loves us unconditionally, so much so that He sent His Son Jesus Christ, who died as an innocent victim on the cross for the sins of whole humanity. In return, God does not want from us anything extra-ordinary but only that, we should love Him and one another sincerely. Ultimately, God would want that the whole humanity, whom He has fashioned out of His Eternal love and creativity, live in peace and harmony. That’s why he came down as “Prince of Peace.”


Today, the world is facing a lot of challenges. Peace seems a rare commodity; peace within individuals, peace with the nature etc. There is lot of turmoil and disturbance in the world. People, instead of loving one another, are bent on to shedding the blood of one another in the name of caste and creed, for selfish motives. The other person has become just an object to satisfy one’s desires. Will the god of any religion want that this world should be flooded with one another’s blood? Will God, whom we call by whatever name want that human beings should not love one another? The real Christmas or any festival for that matter, will be meaningful only when we realize that God loves us unconditionally and so we also should love one another. So let’s try to understand the real meaning of Christ’s coming into this world (Christmas) that is, God being born not in a manger but in the hearts of whole humanity. Let us turn to God, love Him, and love one another.



- B. Johnson Maria

Who will hear their plea?

Who will hear their plea?

(Published in "Free Press" Indore, Weekend special issue on 27 Dec., 2009.)

We are free citizens of free India. We all have equal rights and duties carved out for us by our forefathers in the form of constitution of our country. There are also laws that are created to protect the rights of each one of us and laws to remind us of our duties. It’s all very easy to say, and very pleasant to hear that ‘we all are equal,’ but is there somebody to tell this, to all, that we have equal rights? “What is there to tell to all, it’s all there in our constitution,” one would say. Nevertheless, here question arises, do all citizens of India have a copy of the constitution and are able to understand it? Majority of India dwells in villages, with which also dwell the poverty, illiteracy and many other evils that should have been disappeared by now, had we worked all together to eradicate them.

The situation is like that of a vulnerable person having a machine gun for his protection, but nobody has taught him to operate it. Will it do any good to him? Will it really protect him from the dangers for which it is meant? Today, millions of our brothers and sisters, in the form of poor, dalits, tribals, illiterate, down trodden, marginalized and minorities hold this weapon of their rights, but there is nobody who knows to operate it and willingly ready to impart his knowledge to them.

Poor tribals, whose land gets snatched by the powerful, don’t have anyone to speak for them. Poor slums, dwelling in the outskirts of the cities, give altogether a different picture of our country – the golden bird. It is not that our governments sit with closed eyes towards them; there are hundreds of schemes to bring them up, but who is there to tell them about these schemes? There are innumerable poor and weak people who are thoroughly exploited by the stronger sections of the society, but there is nobody to tell them that our forefathers never wanted this all, that’s why they gave us sure protection in the form of our constitution, but who will strengthen them to fight for justice? Government is doing a lot for them but we should never forget that even the government consists also of the people who have their own pockets too.

The media will readily cover the news of a celebrity having headache, or buying a new car or a Netaji attending a marriage party, but it won’t cover the news of the people in far interiors being exploited, people being deprived of education, only because they are far from cities. The media cannot reach there because there are no proper roads, the ministers cannot reach for the same reason. A lawyer, who is well versed in the law, will not prefer to fight for the cause of the poor and downtrodden, because they do not have enough to pay him. He needs his fees and ‘legal charges.’ If the government turns a deaf ear towards the millions of tribals, dalits and weaker sections of the society, if media closes its eyes to their pain and exploitation, if people who know the law and rights but do not impart the knowledge to the ones who need it most, then who will hear their plea and who will fight for them, or enable them to fight for justice?

- B. Johnson Maria