Dear Editor,
We are in the time of the Nativity, but the sentiment could very well be not one of Christmas, but more of Good Friday. Because of chaos and confusions in our world. In other parts of the globe there is killing of children in war zones and also killing of LGBTQ + persons and others. In other experiences, there is the exodus of refugees, and migrants to other countries for greener pastures but who suffer from xenophobia etc. There is also racism, sexism, and all the isms and schisms everywhere.
In the modern church there is power and clericalism and growing religious fanaticism/ fundamentalism that are offshoots of right wing Christian ideology, centred around a theology of prosperity and division. While on the flipside there is a growing number of non-believers who have no connection with religious doctrines but practice a spiritual and religious autonomy. There is also the culture of superficiality, and the velocity to acquire information and resolve problems without applying critical reasoning and dialogue.
In the Guyanese society, there are the rich who are getting richer and the poor who are getting poorer, there is misery, gender violence; killing of women, garbage on the streets and waterways, suicides and the exploitation of the environment. There are also children who suffer from sexual abuse at home and the breakdown of the family structure.
Furthermore, from a socio economic and political perspective, there is the great obsession with the oil boom which makes many ponder how the money will be spent so that all can have a dignified life in the Guyana. And as we are in the month of December, there is the preparation for Christmas, which for most, takes on a commercial and materialistic aspect. Example: to consume, and most time abuse the use of alcohol as we merry ourselves for the holidays. Then there is the humanitarian element of giving and sharing or reaching out to the less fortunate besides the spiritual part to prepare ourselves by attending church services to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, December 25th.
However, contrastingly, internally in our lives, there are also those confusions, evils, and obsessions that dominate our hearts and minds on a daily basis. Nevertheless, through this chaos and difficulties in our lives and in modern society, God’s entry into the world came in humbleness and innocence. We must remember that through confusion and chaos, the good spirit is at work but we need to take time to perceive it. To do this we need to examine ourselves and see where the omnipotent is working in our lives. Thus, the need to put on the lens of the divine to see the good in others and to exercise empathy, and take every opportunity to say: speak lord your servant is listening; I want to do your will for Guyana to be a better country.
In the nativity story, it relates that the birth of Jesus took place outside the city, in the middle of the darkest night, in an animal shed away from all the chaos in the city and wider society. Nothing was known either in Rome, the capital of the empire, or in Jerusalem, the religious centre of the People of Israel. Almost no one noticed, only those from humble and peasant environments, such as the shepherds of Bethlehem. They came to the shed where the Divine Child was shivering from the cold.
As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’s coming, the Nativity story offers us the key to comprehend some of the most inscrutable mysteries of our afflicted existence. Human beings have always questioned others and themselves: why is our existence so fragile? Why all the problems confusions and sufferings? And God was silent. But in the Nativity an answer is found: Jesus made himself as fragile as we humans through sufferings and chaos. This was God’s answer: not in words but with a gesture of identification. Hence, we are no longer alone in our immense loneliness, sufferings and struggles in Guyana, God is with us. His name is Jesus! A blessed Christmas to all!
Yours faithfully,
Medino Abraham SJ