By Fr Prakash Monteiro
Mangaluru, Dec 24: Life is an opportunity and is a gift from God. What comes to us in abundance, usually we take it for granted. The wonderful order in nature, the rhythm in seasons, plenty of water, pure breeze and many more, are given to us, and for these we seldom thank the Lord. If nature goes out of order, if air gets polluted, if we have scarcity of water, how life turns out to be for both rich and poor, we know either by our experience or seeing the misery of others.
Most of us who go after artificial life and its pomps have forgotten the real worth of life. When I see a crow, calling other crows when it finds something to eat, when I see cows grazing in the pasture together, when I see the sheep moving always in a herd to their pasture, I feel we have forgotten something worthwhile. We have today colorfully painted houses, well decorated gardens, but how much powerful homes we have?
We have well furnished dining halls, but how much of fellowship we enjoy sitting around its table? We have variety of dishes to eat but how hungry we are? We have sophisticated beds, well designed, properly chosen, but how peacefully we sleep? We always plan our economics, carefully deal with our accounts, but do we have a plan for a peaceful life, joyful living? In our busy schedule have we tried to see a seed sprouting, plant growing and a flower blooming? Have we ever tried to listen to the natural sounds, spent time to experience the sound of sheer silence? If you see a bird, an animal, the vegetation don’t you see life in it? Why then as humans, we have lost the touch of life?
Recently I read a story. It says, One should be humble irrespective of who one is. Waiting near the car, for her husband, she saw a man in rags, who came towards her and sat on the curb near the bus stop. She thought he would beg something from her. She ignored him, continued waiting. After a few minutes he spoke, “that’s a very pretty car”, he said. The lady said “thanks”. He sat there quietly as she waited. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between them widened, the woman was compelled to ask “Do you need any help?” He uttered three simple, profound words “Don’t we all?”
In fact, these words are asked not only to the lady but to all of us. Take for instance the floods this year. The rich and the poor, who lived in flats and slums, educated or uneducated were leveled. Those who had simple cell phones or others who had most sophisticated ones, all needed electricity. Either IT Professionals or corporation sweepers, all needed food. All man-made systems realized the power of nature. All were taught, irrespective of the religion they belonged to that they are human beings and all need each other. The most promising and heart throbbing lesson, we learnt from this calamity was that we as human beings, need each other and our lives are dependent on each other.
If I do not narrate this incident that occurred in Chennai, which depicts how our humanity serves as a foundation for everything , then my sharing will be incomplete. A family was stuck in an apartment, surrounded by water due to floods. The wife was pregnant and the time for her to deliver was almost near. They did not know how to escape from that situation. In that crucial moment a man becomes a “saviour” to them. He rescued them, took trouble to admit the woman to a hospital. The woman delivered a baby girl and named her baby by his name. And the most striking part of the story is that the man who rescued them was a Muslim and the family was Hindu. The girl was named, Yunus. A Muslim name to a Hindu girl, speaks volumes about the power of being human. We all need food, clothing and shelter.
We all need peace, joy and love. We all have the same essence though we are made of different calibers. In Christmas we celebrate the mystery of God becoming man, the Emmanuel. In 2014, I had been admitted to the hospital on the Eve of Christmas and was in the hospital till the New Year. I did not witness any solemn celebrations, could not eat any sumptuous food; but I felt Christmas was more meaningful to me than the earlier ones. I had an opportunity to feel the warmth of my people. Don’t you think that was the original Christmas which Joseph and Mary Celebrated? I don’t think they had a cake to share with, and a wonderful dress to be clad with. They had just swaddling clothes, and something to eat which we are not sure what it was. Their celebration was of sharing of what they had with fullness of love and joy. It was real sharing and caring, without any artificial pomp and glory. Our Christmas will be really good and worth celebrating if we fall back on these genuine values of first Christmas. God becoming human tells us how to be a human. If we see a crow, a herd of sheep or any animal which has not forgotten its ‘bird-ness’ or ‘animal-ness’, then we need to see within ourselves that we should not forget our humanness.
This story I can never forget during Christmas. In an ancient temple, a number of pigeons lived happily on roof top. When the renovation of the temple began for the annual temple feast the pigeons relocated themselves to a church nearby. The existing pigeons in the church welcomed and accommodated the new comers very well. Christmas was nearing and the church was given a facelift and therefore all the pigeons had to move out and look for another location. They were fortunate to find a place in a Mosque nearby and the pigeons in the Mosque welcomed them happily. It was Ramadan time and the Mosque was repainted. All the pigeons now came to the same ancient temple.
One day the pigeons on top saw some communal clashes below in a market square. The baby pigeon asked the mother pigeon “Who are these people?” The mother replied they are “Human Beings”. The baby asked “But why are they fighting with each other?” The mother said “these human beings going to temple are called Hindus and the people going church are called Christians and the people going to Mosque care called Muslims.” The baby pigeon asked “why it is so? When we were in the temple we were called pigeons, when we were in the church we were called pigeons and when we were in the Mosque we were called pigeons. Similarly they should be called just human beings wherever they go”. The mother pigeon said “you, I and our pigeon friends have experienced God and that’s why we are living here in a highly elevated place peacefully. These people are yet to experience God. Hence they are living below us and fighting and killing each other”.
The spirit of Christmas is just this. God becomes human and raises us humans to the dignity of divine. He calls us all, particularly those who have become ‘human doings’ to become ‘human beings’. Let Christmas give us that experience of God which will make us human.
Happy Christmas.
Fr Prakash Monteiro