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Christians and Muslims are not in total agreement with all their beliefs about Mary. Yet, this should not prevent them from nurturing a deep and mutual reverence for Mary as “Our Lady.” Beginning with common elements, these two great monotheistic religions can grow closer together; Mary can be one bridge to closer fellowship.
In Sri Lanka, a Buddhist state, December has always been a popular festive season. It’s harvest time. After the first conversions to Catholicism in the 16th century – even in the Sinhala Royal Court – the month was renamed “Nattal mase,” which literally means “Christmas month.” Till today, it remains a mixture of a harvest festival and Christian traditions.
Here in Kenya, around this time, you also see the odd Santa Claus and plastic Christmas trees, mostly in the big shopping malls of the larger cities. But they look totally out of place in the heat of the Equator. I am looking forward, with some longing, to the day when Africa will develop its own Christmas traditions and proudly show them to the world. But that will probably take centuries. Our own Christmas ‘staples,’ after all, do not date from the first century of Christianization of our countries either.
Saint Joseph’s discreet presence in the New Testament infancy narratives has prompted
some to call him “The Forgotten Man of Christmas.” Yet, through the centuries, his figure has grown in the devotion of the Catholic people to the point that his protective presence is perceived in the family, the workplace, on behalf of the universal Church and especially of the dying. Daniel Comboni calls him“ a gentleman” and John Paul II defines him as “the guardian of God’s mystery of love.” Saint Joseph’s silence is meekness, patience, faith and adoration.
“It was then that (Jesus) danced in the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 10:21-22)
