Christmas messages

President 's Christmas message

"I am pleased to share the joy of Christmas with all who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ today.

The story of Christmas has great meaning to all humankind. The birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in a stable in Bethlehem, is a powerful reminder of the message of humility, love, and sharing that is spread with the ringing of Christmas bells in this festive season.

The sheep in whose midst the Child Jesus was born and lay on a manger, and the shepherds who first paid tribute to the Son of God, shows us that Christian love has strong bonds with the poor and the common people and should also extend to all other beings that share this world with us.

"In this season of loving and giving, Christians seek to break the barriers that divide people, whether by race, ethnicity, religion, caste, wealth or social status.

The message Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all that came with the first Christmas has relevance to the world today as it faces increasing challenges of hatred, terror, national rivalry, economic crisis, climate change and food insecurity. The prayers of Christians in this Season of Goodwill seek to ease the burdens of society with the love that is re-kindled with the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

Sharing the hope in these prayers, I send my warmest good wishes for a Christmas full of joy, peace and goodwill to all Christians in Sri Lanka."

Christ present in hearts of all Christians - Prime Minister

Jesus Christ is living eternally in every Christian who shares the ideal of co-existence and equality, Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne said.

In his Christmas message, the Prime Minister wished a Merry Christmas full of happiness and peace to all Sri Lankans.

The Prime Minister's Christmas message: "Today we celebrate Christmas with pleasant memories of the past and look forward for a prosperous future. Jesus Christ is eternally present in the hearts of Christians who adorn the ideal of peace, co-existence and equality.

To make these a reality, one has to be a Christian who shares love and compassion. We have a special responsibility with us as Sri Lankans at this moment. We had long suffered due to three decades of brutal terrorism and it is time for us to unite ourselves as a true Sri Lankan nation and face the future challenges.

It is in this noble task that we need your strength and dedication to face such challenges bravely."

Reconciliation, need of the hour -Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka

"Once again, we are given the unique privilege of adoring the Trintarian God in the Mystery of the Incarnation. Together with Christians all over and men and women of goodwill, we celebrate God's entry into human history, his coming into our midst in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Christmas communicates to us God's unfathomable love manifested in the Person of Jesus. As Sacred Scripture attests, "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). Christmas, therefore, invites all of us, his sons and daughters to receive and experience, already here below, the immense and the unfailing love and his divine life in our daily lives.

Announcing the birth of the child, the heavenly hosts sang, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests" (Luke 2:14). We live in a country where true and lasting peace is yet to be a reality.

Therefore, our celebration of Christmas in the post-conflict context of Sri Lanka places before us its distinctive challenges.

It reminds us that life is always God's unique gift to all of us. We need to continue to acquire a new appraisal of the gift of life itself that goes beyond all man-made differences of caste, creed or race. Christmas reminds us of the deep respect that we owe to one another and of our great need for unity and reconciliation.

We celebrate the Feast of the Prince of Peace. Therefore, let us be engaged in the much needed and the challenging task of healing the wounds that have been inflicted all along the protracted conflict and overcome the prejudices which distance us from one another as reconciliation is the great need of the hour.

The Incarnate Son reminds us that all of us are children of God, brothers and sisters in the One Fatherhood of God wherever or whoever we are.

Let us therefore double our efforts and recommit ourselves to this vital task and become instruments of the Incarnate Son and agents of peace-building and reconciliation.

The child whom we adore invites all of us to be heralds of peace and to do so, most of all by the example and the witness of our daily lives.

The celebration of Christmas directs our attention to the babe of Bethlehem. The angels directed the shepherds who were seeking the new-born child making them know where they could find him: "For today in the city of David a saviour has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.

And this will be a sign for you: You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger: (Luke 2: 11-12)".

Christmas challenges all of us to meet the Lord among the suffering masses of our society, among the poor and the afflicted of our day bringing them comfort and solace.

Our minds and hearts go out also to the thousands of people who are displaced and are not finally resettled in their own villages.

We urge everybody concerned to double their efforts so that normalcy returns to their lives. Hence, we need to seek him among the multitudes who continue to suffer as economic and other hardships make life almost unbearable to so many of our families. Just as the Shepherds of old in Bethlehem, let us accept the challenge and go to meet Jesus lying in the many forms of the 'mangers' of our day.We wish our beloved Faithful a Holy and a Blessed Christmas in which you come to be filled with God's immense love and become his agents of peace through respect, healing and reconciliation.

We wish all the citizens of Sri Lanka and all men and women of Goodwill the peace and the blessings of Christmas".

The message has been singed, on behalf of the Conference by its President Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and Secretary General Bishop Norbert M. Andradi, OM.