For my birthday you are organising in my name, invite as Chief Guest poor, vulnerable. I won't be in your midst

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ* 
Dear Leaders of the Christian Community in India,

Greetings of peace, love, joy and hope- to each one of you, as you prepare to celebrate my birth once again!

I have just come across an invitation, that some of you are planning to celebrate my birthday on 23 December 2024, in Delhi. A great idea indeed – congrats!! My birth as the Saviour of the world must be celebrated! Do go ahead and enjoy yourselves. However, I must confess that your choice of Chief Guest at my birthday party, confuses me tremendously; in fact, I am aghast! Obviously, you will point fingers to me and say to me that during my life on this earth, I was wining and dining with tax- collectors and prostitutes and damned sinners of every hue on the horizon. I have absolutely no doubt that you would conveniently say this to me. Besides, you would also take me on my own words, unhesitatingly quoting me, “I have come for the sinner…!”

Having said this, I would like to state clearly, strongly and unambiguously:

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest...the small farmer/s. You are aware of the suffering that they have been subject to. Their lands have been snatched away from them; they are given a raw deal for the crops they produce; they are being denied a just Minimum Support Price(MSP). Remember the four anti- small farmer laws which are currently in cold storage, designed to help the big corporates who have already built huge granaries? Even today several small farmers are fasting, they want their voice to be heard. I would have been delighted if you had invited one of them for my birthday and given them a voice to express woes, just listened to them. You seem to forget that the first to be invited to celebrate my birthday were the Shepherds. they were the Chief Guests- poor and simple, excluded and exploited, living on the peripheries. They came in haste to worship me! Mummy Mary and Papa Joseph had time for them and received them with the warmth, love and joy which so profoundly defined that first Christmas night.

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest...the Human Rights Defender/ s. Umar Khalid, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and others. My Father had a clear plan, he chose the Magi, the ones who were relentlessly pursuing the truth; the ones who had the courage to follow the Star, despite all odds. The Magi took a stand against the wiles of Herod and refused to toe his line and fall into the trap of his machinations. They took a visible and vocal stand for truth and justice, as they took a calculated decision to go home by another route. There are so many Human Rights defenders who are silenced, hounded and harassed, incarcerated and even killed. Remember our beloved late Fr Stan Swamy? How nice if one of these, who so meaningfully epitomise the spirit of the Gospel, was accorded the pride of place at my birthday party!

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …a peacemaker; someone who has the courage to internalise and actualise peace, justice, harmony, joy and fraternity. There are millions of them in India today – simple, ordinary, voiceless, sensitive people who have a genuine concern for others. who reach out to others. That first Christmas night, the angels sang in one voice, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests” On his first Christmas as the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis referred to the song of the angels as “a song that unites heaven and earth.”. He invited everyone to join in this little song. He called it “a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty.” Pope Francis said, “the song of the angels gives praise and glory to heaven, while at the same time promising peace to earth and all its people.” It is indeed, a song of peace.

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest, …the ‘other’! Remember the people of Egypt? They provided me, my Mum and my Dad with shelter, safety and security. They accorded us a warm welcome. They treated us as one like them, integrated us in their society, gave us all that we needed. It was not easy being refugees, strangers/ foreigners from a distant land. Today we tend to discard these very people so easily. They are discriminated against, their houses are bull-dozed and the most derogatory language is being used against them. My mother always wore a hijab – it was an integral part of her culture and tradition. Today we have reached the lowest rung of pettiness as we determine what one should wear and eat, see and read. It would be an excellent choice to have one of them as the Chief Guest at my birthday party! 

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …a tribal/ an Adivasi. The indigenous peoples are the soul of a nation. The natives – the original inhabitants of the land. Their jal, jungle, jameen – all their natural resources are being snatched away from them. Their identity is being destroyed. Actually, having a Kuki-zo tribal from Manipur, would be ideal. Since early May 2023, they have been bruised brutalised and battered; most of them have lost everything. Many are dead, others just surviving in make-shift refugee camps. Their plight is terrible, unbelievable – a classic case of man’s inhumanity to man. Imagine how wonderful it would be if one of them was invited to be the Chief Guest! 

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …the poor and the vulnerable: there are so many of them in the country today: the casual labourers, the migrant workers, the fisher folk and other indigenous coastal people, the vegetable vendors and slum- dwellers, the ones who are trafficked, the unemployed, the Dalits, the OBCs, the women and those from the LGBTQIA+ community, the bonded persons and abused children. the list is endless indeed. Besides you forget that I am born a Palestinian – wow it would have been terrific to have a Palestinian as the Chief Guest and take a stand against the ruthlessness of the Israeli fascists. 

Sadly, you seem to miss the spirit and message of Christmas – as you concentrate on power, privilege, position, possessions and pride. One can never invite someone as Chief guest, who has tried to destroy the sanctity of the Constitution, prevented people from freely practising and propagation one’s religion and even suffocated freedom of speech and expression. Lies, corruption, hate and violence are mainstreamed in the country today. Minorities and other vulnerable sections of society are at the receiving end of a brutal regime. Don’t fool yourselves; this is neither dialogue nor meaningful interactions. I took a stand against the Caesars, Pilates and Herods of my time. Can you learn from me? You forget that my birth took place in a stable. I am aware that you will do absolutely nothing to change things. That is the tragedy! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in  ‘God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas’ reminds us, “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honour, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”

Finally, enjoy yourself! Sorry, in conscience, I will NOT be in your midst! But of course, you will NOT even invite me for the birthday bash you are organising in my name! No problem! I prefer to be with those, I have truly come for- the least, the lost and the last! Happy Christmas!

Your brother, friend and Saviour,

Jesus...

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*Renowned human rights, reconciliation and peace activist and writer