Felinto Elízio Duarte Campelo

With regard to Christmas Christmas, Jesus’ birthday, is arriving. We can sense a mixture of joy, emotion, hope, and of Faith

We are not bringing you, properly, a message. To call it a message would be a figure of speech. They are just a few poor, with no color words, basted to form like a Christmas message, not to run away from our commitment, recalling the magnificent event of Jesus' coming to Earth.

Simple and unpretentious like us, with no literary value, focusing on sparse quotes of doctrinal nature, its contents, however, are full emotion.

It is sincere and was dictated by our heart, written with the emotion inspired by the Christmas party, and transmitted without oratorical outbursts, but directed to you with much love and as a pale expression of what goes in our soul and we do not know how to put into words.

Potentates and conquerors have taken place on Earth. Domineering and cruel, they enslaved men, crushed nations, reaching, by the armor, the ephemeral glory of the world, and leaving in its wake death, pain, despair, hatred.

Egypt, wise, powerful and domineering, was defeated and occupied by the Persians.

Assyria engaged in war with Babylon and then was swallowed by the Empire of the Chaldeans.

Nebuchadnezzar attacked and razed the city of Nineveh, and then disappeared.
Sparta and Athens, the old and glorious Greece of so important philosophers, mutually assaulted each other in bloody fratricidal battles.

Rome, tyrannical and invincible for many centuries, saw its Empire crumble.

Still a child, Jesus confounded and amazed the doctors of the Law

Despots came, deployed the regime of violence, ambition, pride, passed in a whirlwind of disillusionment, were defeated, and were forgotten. Historians record their exploits, Humanity no longer remembers them.

Jesus, however, had as a cradle a handful of straw, a stable was His maternity, humble shepherds and flocks were his first companions.

When He was born, the greatest hour of Humanity, war hymns were replaced by blessed singing greeting the Heaven’s Ambassador.

As a child in the Temple, Jesus confounded and amazed the doctors of Law.

When He was young, He worked as a simple carpenter at home, demonstrating that in every achievement we cannot spare our own effort.

As an adult, loving, forgiving, healing, comforting, teaching, the Master revoked all oppressive and ruthless laws and promulgated the law of Love, Forgiveness and Charity.

In his earthly pilgrimage, preaching to men the new doctrine of brotherhood, He made of His Gospel a MANUAL OF HUMAN CONDUCT to guide our steps along the paths of life. He composed a POEM OF LOVE, which softens and makes the renewed hearts vibrate in unison with the Creator. He gave us an EVERLASTING SOURCE OF HOPE  when His lips uttered judicious teachings with an unforgettable tenderness. 

Be ye therefore perfect, as perfect is your Father in Heaven

In His Code of Ethics, Jesus noted:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment. And the second, similar to the first, is: love your neighbor in the same way you love yourselves. The whole Law and the Prophets are contained in those two Commandments”.

"You have learned what was said: you will love your neighbor and will you hate your enemies. But I say unto you: Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you and pray for those who persecute and slander you, so that ye may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven. Be ye therefore perfect, as perfect is your Father in Heaven". 

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who pray standing affectedly in the Synagogues, or on the street corners, so that they can be seen by other men. When you wish to pray, come to your room and shut the door, pray to the Father in secret; and your Father who sees what is going on in secret, will give you the reward".

"Give therefore to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's".

"Bring out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then, see how can you take the speck out of your brother's eye".

"Judge not, in order not to be judged; because ye shall be judged as you judged others". 

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth

We continue seeking to know now the Gospel in its poetic feature, recalling the Sermon on the Mount, hymn exalting the humble and those who suffer, and praise the good and righteous:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven;

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted;

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth;

Blessed are those who hunger and are thirsty for righteousness, for they shall be filled;

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God;

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven;
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Be glad and rejoice, for great is your reward in Heaven for they persecuted the Prophets who were before you.

How much poetry also in the words of Jesus contained in Mark, chapter X: "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who resemble them". 

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" - said Jesus

Jesus was also an inspired troubadour, as we can see in chapter VI, Matthew:

“Look at the birds in the sky: they do not sow, they do not reap, and keep nothing in barns; but the Heavenly Father feeds them”.

"Look how the field lilies grow: they do not work, do not spin, however, I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory, ever dressed like one of them”.

Instead, let us recall the Gospel as an everlasting source of consolation for today, and certainly in a better future:

"My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, my people there would have fought to keep me from falling into the hands of the Jews. But my Kingdom is still not here".

"Do not let your heart to be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. There are many homes in my Father's house; if it were otherwise, I would have already told you, since I am leaving to prepare your place. After I have gone and prepared the place for you, I will come back and you will come with me so that wherever I am, you will also be there".

"I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me".

"If ye love me, keep my Commandments; and I will pray to the Father and He will send you another Comforter to be with you forever".

"Verily, verily, I say unto you: If a man is not reborn from the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God”.

“Come unto me, all ye that are heavy and burdened, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn with me that I am gentle and humble in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden light".

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock and the door will open to you; for he who asks receives, and who seeks finds and who knocks on the door, it will open up". 

Jesus is truly the time divider

Jesus was the greatest example of love, kindness, and simplicity. He was gentle, sweet and compassionate, stern and He disciplined but He was never violent.

Tolerant, He understood and forgave all human weaknesses.

Strict, He used His strength and moral superiority, to reprove the merchants from the Temple and cast obsessive, perverse and ignorant Spirits who subdued unfortunate creatures.
Due to His great importance, Jesus is truly the time divider. Universal History identifies the eras as Before Christ and After Christ.

Still today, twenty centuries have gone by, and the Heavenly Messenger reigns in the heart of Christianity.

As happened two thousand years ago, we need to make Jesus reborn in each one of us. Let Him be born in us like a smiling, beautiful, and healthy baby, who will touch and charm us with its innocent smile, and that will make us dream. This child grows and becomes a lucid teenager, ready to clarify and correct the vain people, who believe themselves holders of Truth, in the same manner as it happened in the Temple in Jerusalem.

A teenager who reaches youth, aware of his duties, endowed with noble predicates, hardworking, honest, balanced, a messenger of harmony.

A young man who reaches adulthood, strong in Faith, nourished with love, haloed by the inner light, which makes Charity the main virtue of his life.

Each soul is a world where Jesus - the Christ Praised by God - must be born and grow. Let Him be born again in us on this Christmas, and since he was a carpenter, let Him carve in our heart an altar where we can reverence Him.

Christmas – Jesus’ birthday - is arriving. We can sense a mixture of joy, emotion, hope, and of Faith. The same joy we usually feel in mundane festivities. We feel the great excitement that surrounds us when we gather with colleagues, friends, brothers and family - the renewed hope of seeing better days as we turn the pages of the calendar. It is like the blessed faith, as a virginal lily, which blooms bright and rises in a prayer of worship to the Divine birthday. 

It is imperative that every day Jesus is born again among us 

It is constantly said that Christmas is a moment of reflection, of an analysis of what we did, and what was left to be done.

Well, Christmas gives us an opportunity to think deeply about what we went through in the course of year, it makes us reconsider certain attitudes, and forgetting offenses; it encourages us to reconcile with our enemies forgiving unconditionally and with no limits. Christmas is love.

However, it is not enough to analyze and think about our attitudes and what occurred, only at Christmas time. It is imperative that this work is done always, and even more: it is imperative that every day Jesus is born again among us.

When in fact man learns the sublime message of the Gospel and has his Master in his heart, the past of mistakes, sorrows, hatred, bitterness, will disappear and be appeased, and buried – the fights will be forgotten. There will be peace on Earth.

We then, will have every day, a new CHRISTMAS, Jesus’ birthday.

Merry Christmas to all those who enjoy health; for those who enjoy a stable financial position; for those who were awarded a balanced family.

Merry Christmas for those who suffer from an incurable disease; for those who are hungry and cold and deprived of everything, living in severe poverty; for those who live with a troubled family. For these brothers, may Christmas bring hope of a new life free from the sufferings that torment their souls.

And when we thing about the Nativity of Christ, about what the presence of Jesus on Earth means, we may try, even if shyly, to start our inner renewal.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!