Dear friends and mission partners,
Greetings of Peace.
It is striking to note that the first ones to receive with great joy the news of the birth of Jesus are the shepherds, not the rich and powerful. The shepherds are excluded in many respects in Jewish society. They are at the margins of society since they are the voiceless, poor and deprived of any influence in public life. By contrast, the people who are self-sufficient and powerful are unable to encounter and accept Jesus. King Herod the Great, for instance, fails to meet him and orders the massacre of the children born around the time of Jesus. While the shepherds matter less in the eyes of the world, they are a very privileged people in God’s view. They find life and hope in Jesus.
Christmas is the time to encounter Jesus as someone who gives life and hope to our broken and divided world. The contemporary shepherds are all around us. They are in many areas where there is so much poverty, environmental degradation, conflict and exclusion. The South Sudanese people, particularly those afflicted by poverty, ongoing conflict and violence, long for peace founded on justice. They pin their hopes on people like Fr Victor-Luke Odhiambo SJ who committed his life of service to them as an educator. But he was killed on November 15 at the Jesuit Residence in Cueibet in South Sudan. The local government declared a three-day period of mourning in recognition for his life of service. He could have asked to be reassigned to a safer area, but he embraced the mission entrusted to him and chose to remain and serve the people through education. As a result, he touched so many lives. Father General Arturo Sosa writes: “He is light, which has been extinguished, but after enlightening other lights.”
May we receive the light of Jesus, and enkindle other lights. May we truly encounter Jesus this Christmas so we can also give life and hope to our world in need of reconciliation and justice.
Blessed Christmas to one and all. May the New Year be another season of grace.
Fr Antonio Moreno SJ
President, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
Christmas 2018