Give the best to the Least
We have been walking, all through 2021, with hope. The corona pandemic crushed our enthusiasm – For some of us the loss has been personal and huge. As we were slowly recuperating, the rain battered and the city floated in floods. But still we could brave all odds. Let us first of all thank the Lord for showering the grace to see the end of the calendar year. As of 05Dec2021, 5,264,413 have died worldwide from the covid-19 outbreak; and it is 470,620 for India (about 9%). We are not on the list – We are thankful to the Lord of Life and Death. And now Omicron is staring us in the face. Our hearts are filled with awe and gratefulness and we seek the blessings and protection of God to start the year 2022.
At the same time, we have expressed our availability for and solidarity with the affected – We opened up the campus for quarantine and we helped the migrants and our outreach centers with our staff and student volunteers and with the help of our alumni. We have lived out the Christmas spirit of giving, giving out of our own needs. And we have received the blessings of the beneficiaries which are the blessings of the Lord Himself.
As God came to us in our own form and name, we also tried to merge our services with others. We could interact with our fellow faculty members from Loyola College (Vettavalam) and Loyola College (Mettala) so that we could walk together in the Jesuit formation of students. We have been taking efforts to explore the possibility of bringing in university status to the campus – Recently we could sit with the industry people and discuss how we could make our education relevant and prophetic. Our institutions do so well academically. Let us thank God and each other for all the good that has happened. We have been blessings to each other and let us continue to be so.
When we give, we give our best. It is not what we give, but with what heart we give that matters. Jesus admired the two copper coins of a widow over the abundance of offerings from the rich. The rich offered a percentage of what they had, but the poor lady gave her 100%. God himself gave up His divinity to become a baby and to be a 100% human being with us. Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate generous giving – giving without limit nor restriction.
O. Henry, in his The Gift of the Magi, depicts Jim and Della who were full of love for each other but who had very little money to meet both ends meet. For Christmas, each one wants to buy a secret gift for the other. On the Christmas eve, Jim presents Della a set of beautiful and costly combs for her cascade-like long hair; and Della, in turn, offers Jim a gold chain for his watch. The twist is, Jim has pawned his watch to get the comb for Della; and Della had sold her hair to the wig-maker to get the gold chain for Jim. Their gift could wait but their love ever grows. More than sharing goods, let us share our goodness with others.
Christmas is a celebration of being and giving. We make people realize that we are there for them, known or unknown, just like the shepherds came to greet the unknown Baby and the wise men came to pay their respect to an insignificant Child. We are invited to see and recognize the Lord of Heaven and earth among the unknown people.
Today we have with us Fr Lazar of the Divine Word Society. He has earned PhD both in Hindi literature and in Religious studies and Anthropology. He has been the professor in our national philosophate in Pune; former Provincial of Tamilnadu-Andhra SVD Province; and now he is the Rector of SVD formation house in St Thomas Mount, Chennai. He has authored seven books on various topics on religion and anthropology and numerous research papers as well. We welcome him to share his Christmas celebration.
Dear staff members, both teaching and non-teaching in all the units in Loyola campus, on behalf of the Jesuit management, I thank you for your unfailing and wonderful service in Loyola campus and I wish you all and your family members a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Francis P Xavier SJ
18Dec2021