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EMMANUEL ... GOD WITH US !
| Once again we celebrate the birth of Emmanuel ... God with us.
People of Sudan, with anguished but hopeful hearts, pray that God may be with us; at this Christmas and throughout the New Year. We pray that God will be with us when we open our hearts to receive him; God will be with us when we are united in his name; God will be with us when we work for justice; God will be with us when we seek peace; God will be with us when we are humble. May Emmanuel open the eyes of our leaders: Let them see the enslavement of their children; let them see the rape of their girls and women; let them see the persecution of Christians, of African traditional believers and even of Muslims; let them see the horrors of jihad (holy war) and indiscriminate aerial bombardment; let them see the use of food to make people change their faith; let them see the misuse of funds from the exploitation of the natural resources which God has given; let them see their people being sold for barrels of oil by "Christian" nations; let them see the forcible Arabisation and Islamisation of their people; let them see the indifference of the industrialised nations who declare that they suffer from compassion and donation fatigue! let them see the escalating disaster caused by their strife and fighting with one another; let them see and condemn the policy of "kill the slave by the slave"; let them see that their friends are disappointed because of their internal divisions and struggles for power. May the leaders of the people understand that to rule is to serve and not to be served. To rule is to be a good listener to the voice of the people, a healer of their wounds, the one who dries their tears and who defends and protects them from the nightmare of fundamentalism. To rule is to reconcile, to unite, to protect and to love. Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of our first Sudanese saint, Josephine Bakhita, The Fortunate and The Lucky. May Bakhita enlighten our leaders, showing them that they must put aside their obsession with prestige, their personal interests, their thirst for power; May Bakhita The Simple, The Humble and The Loving Woman, be our Patron and our Intercessor. Saint Bakhita, intercede for your people; surely they have drunk the bitter chalice to the last drop! And Jesus, Prince of Peace, Have Mercy on your Church; Have Mercy on Sudan. Amen. + Macram Max Gassis
Bisbop of El Obeid Diocese (Sudan) Christmas 2000 |