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Christmas Message to Confreres of South Asia Region

By Father Maria Arokiam Kanaga SDB

Father Maria Arokiam Kanaga SDB with Pope Francis and the Rector Major, Father Ángel Fernández Artime

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Mumbai, Dec. 24. Dearest Confreres,
I wish every one of you A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR OF GOD'S ADVENTUROUS MERCY!

In the first place, I pray for your HAPPINESS. Happiness is our birthright. One of the dreams of our Rector Major is that our Congregation should be one of HAPPY Salesians! A sad Salesian is a bad one. There is absolutely no way one can be basically unhappy if one truly believes in Incarnation. May this Christmas, not withstanding all our troubles, make us radiantly happy. This is a witness to the Good News that today's sad world needs to see. Our happy faces are the greatest vocation promoters!

Secondly, I wish that this year, 2016 be ADVENTUROUS! Adventure is the key word in this year's Strenna. But it is the adventure of our spirit and of God's Spirit. The greatest adventure narrative is the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, some sort of an ongoing star-wars-episode, a struggle between the Divine and the human. Imagine that we are asked to be key players in the cast of this eternal saga, like Mary, Paul and Don Bosco! Let this be a year of audacious expeditions, both in the constellations of our interior universe and the exterior universe of the poor youth. It could be daunting and risky, but exciting and exhilarating. Let us leave the trodden paths and the familiar shores and stray into the deep. It is the world of the Spirit of Christ, who blows where He wills. No one knows where it comes from or where it goes. But we know it is the Spirit. Happy Journey!

Thirdly, the clarion call of Pope Francis gives us the Content of this Adventure - MERCY, God's Mercy, not human condescension, received and shared discretely. The luminous humility of the Bethlehem grotto reveals that God's mercy is most delicately offered to us, without offending our dignity. It is not the pompous charity of the Pharisee but the lovers desire that only begs to be allowed to serve. This adventure of mercy is a wisdom beyond the grasp of the wise, reserved only to the little ones! It is an incredible adventure in which the adventurer delights only in God's protagonism and not in one's achievements. For most of us, self-emptying is itself could be the most adventurous and daunting journey. May this Jubilee Year of Mercy be one of the Adventure of the Spirit in our lives.

While I wish you happiness, adventure and mercy, I beg you to pray for the same for me.

Happily in the Lord of Merciful Adventure,

Father Maria Arokiam Kanaga SDB

Secondly, I wish that this year, 2016 be ADVENTUROUS! Adventure is the key word in this year's Strenna. But it is the adventure of our spirit and of God's Spirit. The greatest adventure narrative is the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, some sort of an ongoing star-wars-episode, a struggle between the Divine and the human. Imagine that we are asked to be key players in the cast of this eternal saga, like Mary, Paul and Don Bosco! Let this be a year of audacious expeditions, both in the constellations of our interior universe and the exterior universe of the poor youth. It could be daunting and risky, but exciting and exhilarating. Let us leave the trodden paths and the familiar shores and stray into the deep. It is the world of the Spirit of Christ, who blows where He wills. No one knows where it comes from or where it goes. But we know it is the Spirit. Happy Journey!

Thirdly, the clarion call of Pope Francis gives us the Content of this Adventure - MERCY, God's Mercy, not human condescension, received and shared discretely. The luminous humility of the Bethlehem grotto reveals that God's mercy is most delicately offered to us, without offending our dignity. It is not the pompous charity of the Pharisee but the lovers desire that only begs to  be allowed to serve. This adventure of mercy is a wisdom beyond the grasp of the wise, reserved only to the little ones! It is an incredible adventure in which the adventurer delights only in God's protagonism and not in one's achievements. For most of us, self-emptying is itself could be the most adventurous and daunting journey. May this Jubilee Year of Mercy be one of the Adventure of the Spirit in our lives.

While I wish you happiness, adventure and mercy, I beg you to pray for the same for me.

Happily in the Lord of Merciful Adventure,

Father Maria Arokiam Kanaga SDB

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