P. A. Chacko S. J.
Christmas this year for me is my solidarity with those countless children buried under the rubble heaps of bombed buildings in Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus.
Today, Palestine remains a shattered desert of rubble heaps. A nation sought to be erased from its existence as a national entity, thanks to its neighbour and its equally terrorist friends whose supportive drones and bombs, missiles and ammunitions have been sowing terror, death and destruction.
My Christmas solidarity goes with those missing children, orphaned children, and those disabled infants who are victims of man-made calamities and wars in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine and in other conflict areas.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ the redeemer and liberator. One who had no place of birth except a God-forsaken cave in the company of animals. One in whose name Herod the Terrorist put to death all the infants of Palestine. That infant Jesus escaped the horror was a miracle. His parents were terror stricken. The rest was history.
Should I venture to envisage an AI manipulated modern crib with eye popping decorations while
war drones are hovering and missiles are flying to light up the sky?
This year’s symbolic crib in Bethlem will be a rubble heap where Child Jesus lies half buried under boulder heaps. Perhaps orphaned, because Mary and Jesus are not seen around.
AI guided missiles are carpet bombing and singing alleluias from up in the sky. And Trump-aided drones are trumpeting gloria in tune with carol singing as the king of Israel is ‘coming down the mountains, coming down the mountains!’
While Infant Jesus joins the number of orphaned and maimed kids whose future is unknown mystery and misery!
So I invite you, my friends, to look at this half-buried Child Jesus. Let us ask how comfortable he is? What would his future be if he were born again today in the kids of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, or Ukraine? Will the remnants have a future? Will they resurrect from dust and destruction to the glory of nationhood, peace and fellowship?
Will the remnant infants of wartorn nations be allowed to blossom forth as liberators and redeemers to denounce the injustice of war and the corruption of the human mind and announce peace , and building of bridges in human solidarity and fellowship?
Today and in future days, we need such liberators and redeemers whose words will carry weight and whose presence in our midst will make a sea change.
Then we shall happily sing glorias and alleluias with peace in our hearts and alertness in our steps!