by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
On my return from attending an International Conference in Kingston, Jamaica on the theme: Human Rights, International Law and The Family (see REPORTS), my eyes were drawn upwards as I waited for the gate at Archbishop’s House to open. The brilliant sunshine shone on the beautiful crèche which, this year, has been placed high above the front door so that all could see it more clearly.
I parked and came out of my car to meditate for a while before proceeding to my office. As the sun streamed down on the crèche I was filled with joy and just blurted out aloud: “Glory to God on high and peace to all people on earth!”
In the words of Rev Steven Marshall: “Christmas is a feast of the interior light, a rekindling of the spiritual spark within us…Christmas is about becoming conscious of the renewing light that streams into the soul on Holy Night, that kindles into flame, the soul spark within us, the birth of the Christ-Light within us.”
Amidst all the feting, take some time to reflect on the transforming moment when God, in his infinite kindness and love for us, sent his only Son to save us. Jesus is the reason for the season and the source of our happiness.
As we journey on through the Year of Faith, let us take with us the image of the Christ-child in the manger; let us draw nearer to Him, to our neighbour and to all His creation as we play our part to make straight the paths of the Lord.
As I was writing this article, I received an e-mail with a report from the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper (Dec 14) about two men in Columbia who “have come under fire for their all-male manger – where the baby Jesus has two father Josephs and the Virgin Mary is nowhere to be seen. The country’s Catholic Church has labelled the display, in the northern city of Cartagena, as ‘sacrilege’.
“The gay rights activists told the Diario Veloz website that they set up the scene, a picture of which was then posted on Facebook, in the hope that it would help in bringing about reform in the country’s gay marriage laws. A bill to legalise gay marriage is currently being looked at by the country’s politicians and has passed the first of four debates. But it has been dubbed as ‘unconstitutional’ by the nation’s conservative lawmakers.”
Read my report on the International Conference in Jamaica to fully understand the many ways in which the so-called “rights” of the LGBTI community are trampling upon our rights. While I repeat what CCSJ and Msgr Llanos said in our media release on June 20 2012, that “Those with this sexual orientation ‘must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided’ (Catechism 2357, 2358), let us remember Blessed John Paul II’s words: ‘The natural law is itself the eternal law, implanted in beings endowed with reason, and inclining them towards their right action and end…”
The Catholic Bishops of our region have said: “The Church has always made a clear distinction between sexual orientation and sexual behaviour. Sexual orientation is morally indifferent while homosexual behaviour is immoral, objectively speaking. Homosexual acts are contrary to the creative plan of God about the complementarity of the sexes or to the openness to life intrinsic to sexual relations within marriage.”
My friend, Piero Tozzi, Senior Legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom (a Catholic organisation), presented a paper at the Conference in Jamaica and also addressed the Kingston Archdiocesan Clergy Meeting at which I was present. He reminded us that “it is important that the Church speak with a clear voice in the public square: when She does not as it says in Isaiah: ‘Truth stumbles in the street, Justice stands afar off, and equity cannot enter.’”
I end with the words taken from Pope Leo’s great Christmas Sermon:
“…if we wish what He wishes, and disapprove what He disapproves, He will finish all our wars for us, He Who gave the will, will also give the power: so that we may be fellow-workers in His works, and with the exultation of Faith may utter that prophetic song: ‘the Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?’”
Wishing you all a holy and peaceful Christmas – from all of us at the CCSJ.
