“Find joy in giving than receiving; in sharing than gathering”: Cardinal

The Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith called on all the parish priests of the Archdiocese of Colombo to organise Christmas day feeding programmes for the underprivileged, particularly children, to demonstrate solidarity.

Cardinal Ranjith placed emphasis on feeding the poor, in a Christmas message.

“I myself will be having lunch on Christmas Day with the poorest of the poor in a parish on Christmas day in order to drive home a point that without helping the poor Christmas will be just an empty experience,” he said.

Excerpts of the message:

“We Christians need to become the living and tangible expression of that simplicity of the Lord. With our country and a vast majority of its citizens facing a situation of not only physical but mental stress and pain, many families facing starvation; severe difficulties to find even a bare minimum of the necessities of life; disorientation; impossibility of hoping for a better future; unemployment; lack of any sense of justice and fair play; insurmountable problems of all types afflicting them, how could we celebrate Christmas as a festival of merry making without offending them?”

“Let us then adorn this Christmas with a deep spirit of sharing, care and concern for others and of sensitivity towards the feelings of others. All of this, in the spirit of Jesus who came to earth to wean away mankind from slavery of sin and selfishness, who in His birth, life and death showed us how to love God, His beloved Father and fellow human beings, especially those most afflicted and pained, by emptying Himself and becoming one of us.”

“Let us not offend the poor this Christmas but find joy in giving than receiving; in sharing than gathering; in loving than in being loved; in understanding than in being understood; and in serving than in being served.”