Christmas Message     Christmas - an Inward Journey to Jesus   Archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil     Apostolic Administrator (Ernakulam-Angamaly)  
 
 
We are preparing to celebrate another Christmas. This preparation should not be confined only to externals. It should chiefly be a preparation of the heart, recalling the words of prophet Joel, "Rend your hearts and not your clothing"(2:13). We should be able to repent, give up sin totally, and return to the Lord whole-heartedly. Christmas should be the journey of our hearts to Jesus.
 
The messenger of the Lord who gave the news of the Saviour to the shepherds, indicated a sign whereby they would recognize him. "This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger"(Lk 2:12). Swaddling cloth and a manger are the signs of the Saviour. These two things are synonymns for poverty. And the Infant is the symbol of helplessness. How can one who is helpless and has nothing become a Saviour who will save all mankind? This is the mystery of the self-emptying of the only Son of God, who, says St Paul, "Though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness"(Phil 2:6-7). Only those who can imbibe this mystery of self-emptying will be able to discover the Saviour in the manger and in the swaddling clothes.
 
It is not only in Christ's birth, but in his life and death also, that we see this self-emptying. Jesus, who said, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn12:24), emptied himself totally for our sake. Through this self-abnegation he produced the fruit of salvation for us.
 
Today where do we look for the Saviour? To find him we have the same signs, namely, the swaddling clothes and the manger. In other words, it is through a life of self-emptying that we can find Jesus and enjoy the salvation he offers. That is why he said, "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life"(Jn 12:25). We should deny ourselves through a life of service and love of neighbour rather than store up what we need in the barns of self-love and attempt to find security and comfort in our possessions. Only then can we make the experience of salvation our own.
 
May everyone be blessed with the inspiration and strength to follow Jesus in his path of self-emptying, during the celebration of Christmas this year! To all the readers of Vachanolsavam, I wish the joy and peace of Christmas!
 
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