Ver­non Khelawan

'Twas a few days be­fore Christ­mas 2013 and Arch­bish­op Joseph Har­ris stirred him­self on his sick bed to send a mes­sage to his flock. In it, he shared his deep con­cern and wor­ry about the es­ca­lat­ing abuse of our chil­dren.And while we sad­ly con­tem­plate the dark­ness brought about by the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing spir­i­tu­al health of our na­tion, the arch­bish­op re­minds us of the words of the prophet Isa­iah, "A peo­ple who walked in dark­ness has seen a great light."

He al­so re­minds us of the news giv­en the shep­herds by the an­gel more than 2,000 years ago to fill hearts with hope."Lis­ten, do not be afraid. I bring you news of great joy. A joy to be shared by all the peo­ple. To­day, in the town of David, a sav­iour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord."So there is still hope.

Arch­bish­op Har­ris told his peo­ple, "The cel­e­bra­tion of Christ­mas de­mands of us then, not sim­ply the en­joy­ment of the tra­di­tion­al Christ­mas things, all of which are good and wor­thy of en­joy­ment, but al­so the recog­ni­tion and ac­cep­tance of the mis­sion­ary di­men­sion of Christ­mas, that just as Christ was sent by the Fa­ther to be the light for a peo­ple who walked in dark­ness, so you and I have al­so been sent in im­i­ta­tion of Christ to be the light il­lu­mi­nat­ing the dark­ness of our world."

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers