As you celebrate Christmas do it wisely

Christmas Message from His Eminence The Most Rev. Cosmore Pompey OM MO, Archbishop and primate, Spiritual Baptist Archdiocese.

My Soul doth magnify the Lord,

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,

For, behold from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed.

St. Luke 1:46:48

Mary’s joy, knowing that she was to be the mother of our Lord, was beautifully put together in the magnificat from which the above-mentioned verses were taken. Elated was Mary, yet humbled by the fact that she was from lowly estate now blest among women.#{{more}}

Although she felt honoured to be called “Blessed” by all, she also acknowledged that God’s mercy on those that fear him is from generation to generation; we must take notice of her conclusion of the magnificat: “As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.”

Mary was highly favoured and knew that the Lord was with her, even the salutation from the angel, “Hail,” bore testimony of this, yet as she went with her husband to be taxed, her days were accomplished that she should be delivered; she brought forth her first born Son, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid him in a manger for there was no room for them at the inn.” St. Luke 2:7.

My brothers and sisters, sometimes we may believe that we do not deserve certain things, but using Mary as an example, we must learn that in whatever state, we are to be satisfied with what we have, our will is not always God’s will.

Jesus learnt from his Mother’s humility, the place where he was born was an inspiration to him. He was not afraid to identify himself with the poor; remember the first hope he gave as he began the sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” St. Matthew 5:3.

There is absolutely no room for us to imitate the rich man’s action towards Lazarus, instead, let us at this time and always look out for the unfortunate ones. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, and he is about love, joy, peace, caring, sharing, giving and receiving. Make this the hour when you will receive him as Saviour and friend. His reason for coming is to be our Saviour, he is still knocking at your heart’s door, just open and let him in. He wants to sup with you so that he can save you; Glory to God in the highest, the Christ of Christmas is our Saviour today, tomorrow he may be our Judge. Therefore as you celebrate Christmas, I urge you to do it wisely.

Permit me to use this opportunity to congratulate the successful candidates in the last general elections, and extend best wishes to our esteemed Prime Minister, the Hon. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and his Cabinet as they continue their task via the mandate given to them on December 7th 2005.

To all Vincentians, let us use this Christmas time to put our differences aside and let the healing and building process begin. Any negative attitude portrayed by us will only deepen the wounds, we must come together and unite for we have a country to build; after all St. Vincent and the Grenadines belongs to all of us so, think about what you can do for your country.

As we come closer to the end of another year, let us be honest with ourselves and take the grade we deserve for 2005, redouble our efforts and consecrate ourselves anew.

To all Spiritual Baptists, I say thank you for your support over the years, especially this my twentieth year as Archbishop. Thanks to you and all my well wishers for your prayers and gifts.

My wife Mona, children, hardworking Council members and the Spiritual Baptist fraternity wish for all a blessed Christmas and may God bless 2006.

May God be with you!