Reena Joseph

The crux of the homily at the Christmas Holy Mass at our local church was about the birth of the Good News.  We were all urged to carry forward the legacy of this baby bearer of Good News and become bearers of the Good News in our day-to-day lives.  A challenge for every Christian, I presume… A beautiful message delivered in simple terms. It set me thinking on how I was going to deal with this challenge, and give it the best shot possible.

After a humble birth in a lowly manger, the bearer of the Good News goes on to grow up as an apprentice carpenter until such time that his public life begins.  From then on, Jesus becomes a public figure calling for repentance and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. As we all know, his mission was to call sinners to salvation, provide hope to the desperate and heal disabilities ¬– physical and spiritual. In all of his public life, Jesus targeted spiritual wholeness which was often reached through physical well being. His teachings were comprehensible even to the uneducated and simple folk wherever he went.  This is because the Good News he preached was one of salvation for all who seek it; mercy and compassion were there for the asking, and judgment was not part of his mission.

Today, if we are to take up the challenge of becoming the Good News bearers, in my view, we need to focus on the most important directives given by Jesus: Love God above all else, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.  These two commands encapsulate the whole gamut of Christian teaching. Pondering on the message of the Christmas homily, and determined to be an effective carrier of the Good News, I came home to find my first ‘trial by fire’ for the day. My domestic help had accidentally locked her toilet door from inside and closed the door shut from the outside.  There was breakfast to be served for the family, in addition to preps for Christmas lunch with guests arriving shortly. My firstinner reaction was one of judgmental irritation and righteous indignation.  Of all days, why did she have to behave so absent minded on such a busy day? Does she have any idea on how difficult it would be to find a solution? Such thoughts (all of them negative, critical and angry) raced through my mind. We tried a few home tricks to break the lock, bang the door, and the works…all to no avail! In frustration, I called on the Lord and said: Why this Lord? And why today?

Strange as it may seem, at that point, the Christmas homily rang clear in my mind: Be the bearer of the Good News.  I took the prompting seriously, sat myself down with a hot cup of tea and mulled over my options.  Breakfast was prepared and served with not a hint of irritation and exasperation I was enveloped in a while ago. I felt this was my challenge for the day. My local carpenter was called; his workshop was closed for the day, but he offered me the services of one of his boys. He was brought home, and within a few minutes the mission was accomplished without major damage to the door or frame!  We served him breakfast, and presented him with a plum cake.  He was so thrilled to eat in a Christian home, he said. Being a migrant worker from Bihar, he had never been served food in any of the Kerala homes.  After breakfast, he looked around at our crib, Christmas Tree and other festive paraphernalia, and expressed joy at seeing these things so close up and for free!

I was touched by his simplicity, and humbled by his gratitude. I knew this was a Christmas lesson for me: a lesson in patience, seeking the Lord’s help and reaching out to the less privileged. When the whole fiasco was over, my maid was extremely relieved and told me she was so grateful for my kind-heartedness through it all. That’s when I realized I had masked my earlier annoyance well enough. Thank God I had the grace not to wear my displeasure and irritation on my sleeve for all to see!

The whole incident, trivial as it may seem, was for me a significant step forward in becoming the Good News on a daily basis. It also brought home to me that conducting one’s life in a truly Christian manner does not involve great acts of bravery and sacrifice. It’s merely a consciousness of what it means to be a Christian; simply put, it’s the mindful alertness to be Christ like in all we say and do. It sure is not a cakewalk, but the Christian walk is a challenge, and we have to be ready to make that walk a reality.