Xmas celebrated in a significant manner

The citizens of the city as well the districts of Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan celebrated Christmas with religious fervour on Friday. Thousands of people celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ in churches, exchanged gifts and wished each other. Midnight mass, candlelight prayers marked the festivities.

The churches were decked up with colourful lights, Christmas trees and other decorative items. People thronged St Philomena’s Church, CSI Hardwick Church, St Bartholomew’s Church and other churches in the city. Devotees at St Philomena’s Church rendered traditional Christmas carols at midnight. The church bells began to chime, launching the elaborate services. Bishop of Mysuru Thomas Antony Vazaphilly led the special prayers. The procession of an idol of Infant Jesus in a crib was attractive.

Holy mass was held in three languages — Kannada, English and Tamil. Prayers and rituals were also performed at St Bartholomew’s Church and the 144-year-old Wesley Cathedral.

Bishop Vazaphilly, in his Christmas message, said, at present the leaders were speaking on climatic change, but, Jesus Christ was the first person to highlight climate change in the world, which was suffering from discrimination among communities due to corruption, religion, caste, creed, and race. Christ wanted to bring a change in the mindset of people and he considered it as the best change to establish brotherhood in the society. Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind, he said.

Christ was born to bring change in the society and to preach peace. There is crisis in Palestine and Israel, due to corruption, injustice and discrimination again, he pointed out.

MLAs M K Somashekar and Vasu conveyed their wishes to the Bishop and Christians. However, St Philomena’s College celebrated the festival last Sunday. The staff members of the college and their family members took part in the festivities by exchanging gifts and wishes. “Christmas is a time of sharing and thus people share gifts with their beloved ones,” said Leslie Moras of St Philomena’s College. People belonging to other communities too took part in the celebrations. Many people visited churches, distributed sweets and exchanged gifts.