This is the weekly "Oasis News" of Silsilah Dialogue Movement for our friends and linkages printed also to a local newspaper of Zamboanga City (Mindanao, Philippines). It is our way to maintain the LINK (Silsilah) with you. You can find this news and the previous Oasis News in our official site www.silsilahdialogue.com. Feel free to publish this news if you find it relevant. We appreciate your comments and suggestions. Thanks.
3rd Week - December 21, 2011
Silsilah Message of the Season of Advent, Christmas and New Year
The advent season marks the beginning of a special year known as liturgical year. It culminates with the Christmas celebration.
Silsilah maintains its tradition of sending every year, messages on the occasion of Advent and Christmas to the Christians and to the Muslim Umma during the month of Ramadhan.
This year, let us recall the message of love deeply ingrained in the Christian celebration. Jesus, the Emmanuel (God among us) for the Christian is a symbol of love and hope for mankind. Love goes beyond the limit of our faith for it is an explosion of life shared with all, the rich and the poor, men and women, Christian and Muslim and people of other living faiths. In celebrating Christmas, we reaffirm the spirit of solidarity that we must develop and nurture in every possible way.
We know that the faith about Jesus divide us Muslims and Christians but his message of love and compassion of Jesus unite us. For this, let us continue to celebrate life and love in the midst of violence and confusion in our society. We are called to protect life from the first moment of conception up to the end. The time has come to overcome fear and raise our voices in unison in the face of many forms of violence in our midst, but sad to say, many are discouraged and many became the “silent majority” because of crippling fear.
Today when our society tends to use violence in trying to solve real and perceived problem, what are we going to do? What is our mission? How do we translate the commandment of love to the day-to-day life in the family and society as a whole?
Our youth looks up for models to follow, but we cannot convince them by mere talks or educational points about our faith.
They need us, Christian and Muslim alike to be the example of living in peace and total acceptance because we are truly move by love for each other.
Let us celebrate together the love during this special occasion. The Muslim guided by their respect and solidarity in the celebration of Christmas, and the Christians guided by their faith in the true message of love of the season.
May the light of Christmas be an occasion to kindle the fire in the hearts of many to proclaim to the world that we truly care for each other as Christians and Muslims in Mindanao. We stand united as one as we condemn all acts of violence done by many in the name of religion and pray together in solidarity with the recent calamities of our land.
The message of Christmas is “Glory to God in the highest and peace to people of goodwill”.
May the search for peace in the spirit of love and compassion will urge all of us to work for dialogue and peace in the new year 2012.
Silsilah Dialogue Movement