Bishop Dereck Fernandes of Belagavi diocese
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Christmas will be celebrated with joy and fervour this year across the world, head of the Belgaum diocese Bishop Dereck Fernandes said on December 23.
“This year’s celebrations will be unique because it marks 2,025 years of the birth of Jesus Christ,” he said in a press meet at the Bishop‘s House in Belagavi.
This year’s global theme is: Pilgrims of Hope.
Churches and other Christian organisations across the globe will engage in charitable acts like feeding the poor, and caring for them. In Belagavi, a midnight mass and celebration will be held on December 24 night. A procession will be taken around the camp area from St Joseph’s school to the church on December 29. Believers from around the diocese in Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra‘s Chandagad taluk will attend. Around 3,000 are expected to gather for the procession.
Bishop Fernandes said that 2,025 years ago, Christ was also born in the same environment of chaos and policing as we are witnessing in present day Palestine. He urged people to remember the poor and marginalised by acts of sharing and charity.
“We will all follow the guidelines from the Vatican,” he said. “Jesus was neglected by the rich and powerful of his time. We will be rejecting Jesus again, if we were to neglect the poor and deprived now.”
“Christmas is a reminder of reminder that love, hope, and generosity have the power to unite all of mankind and to transform our lives. As we light candles, sing carols, and exchange gifts, let us also open our hearts in love towards everyone and to our environment, becoming instruments of God’s presence in the world,” Bishop Fernandes said.
He urged people to come together as one family, inspired by the humility of the manger, and the promise of the star-lit sky, to build a brighter and more hopeful future. Cribs depicting the birth of Jesus will be created in some churches that depict today’s crises, like war and climatic disasters.
Published – December 24, 2024 11:08 am IST