December 20, 2004

Dear Friends

What difference a regime change in the United States would have made in the life of those who reel under the so-called “Washington Consensus” and its associated expansionist agenda! Ultimately, it is the system and Americans in general have once again made it clear to the world that they are not prepared to forsake the system that benefits them, however ruthless and exploitative that may be for the rest of the world. The worst part of it is when the political establishment speaks in the name of God and for God and claims divine sanction for their economic and political ambitions. The imperialist ideology of manifest destiny is playing out its hubris in very hidden and subtle ways. This is the context in which the church in the United States tries to reach out with its mission and partnership initiatives. It is a time for the faithful to stand up and be counted and challenge the neo-liberal economic policies of the empire and its militaristic expressions of conquests. How much do we believe in and share the agenda of the Messiah as described in the Magnificat:

He has shown strength with his arm,
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted those of low degree;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
Luke 1: 51-53

I share this quote from Archbishop Oscar Romero, written on the eve of Christmas in 1978, as food for thought as you meditate on the meaning of God’s coming into our midst in the person of Jesus, the child. This quote also brings into the forefront the basic prerequisite for any meaningful partnership at any level.

No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.

The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have everything, look down on others,
those who have no need even of God—
for them there will be no Christmas.

Only the poor,
the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God,
Emmanuel,
God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.

Christmas is a season when we think of old friends who have meant so much to us in our life’s journey. We remember you with gratitude and pray that you and we may be able to experience the abundance of God in our lives during this Christmas.

Thomas John and Betty