Be Good, stand by the Truth, Love each other and Continue Working for the Good of our Country; Christmas Message of BARANI HIIBORO, Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio

From the heart of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, I would like to pass a special Christmas message and greeting for year 2020. Happy Christmas to each and every one of you. May you all be blessed as we celebrate the birth of life, the birth of the Prince of Peace and King of Kings.

We celebrate this Christmas of 2020 amidst mixed feeling, the year 2020 has gone down in history as one of the most terrifying, unique and painful year, which has brought upon the paradox of life due to the pandemic of Covid 19. I therefore wish to pass to you this message of renewal, of waking up; message of rebuilding, message of gathering our broken pieces of life as a result of Covid 19 and move into normality, into stability, into peace.

Christmas is one of the greatest moment of joy and happiness, I am therefore bring to you this message of peace and hope my people of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, men and women of goodwill throughout the Republic of South Sudan and the whole Catholic Church around the world.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ; of his life, his teaching, of his ministry, of his activities, his ultimate sacrifice for humanity. It is the remembrance of all that He stood for and everything he taught us. At Christmas we remember all that our savior taught us to love another. Jesus proclaimed to us the coming of the kingdom of God, a kingdom in which love and forgiveness, peace and harmony, justice and truth will reign.

The birth of Jesus had been prophesied by prophet Isiah as the birth of the Prince of Peace, His reign was foretold as a governance of righteousness. About his kingdom the prophet had declared that on that day the wolves shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lay down with a baby goat, a little child who later taught us love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and the greatest commandment Jesus mentioned, the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. Christmas is an occasion for us in the Catholic Church to renew our dedication and commitment to continue serving with love and compassion our country the republic of South Sudan, our villages, our communities, men and women as we have always been doing down the ages.

Our nation building activities, education activities, health care services and other compassion work are guided by Jesus command; love your neighbor as yourself, following the example of our lord and master our hearts and lives reach out in a special way to those abandoned, excluded, humiliated, imprisoned and segregated, to those left out to the peripherals of development in resource to the poor, the elderly, the orphans and all those who we may call tribes.

I remember one quote of mother Teresa who said that try to give the poor love, so the birth of Jesus changed the world forever; our great and our continued services, our resilience has kept this country the republic of South Sudan alive as per today; may we hold to that. Christmas is the celebration of birth of Prince of Peace; today our country the republic of South Sudan hunger for peace amidst war and violence, all sorts of humiliation and suffering, and poverty; may we all of us together in the republic of South Sudan chose the work of peace so that we would become and be called children of God because we will be peace makers.

Praying for Peace, Truth and Justice to Reign in South Sudan

St. John tells us that God so love the world that he gave His only son to human kind, the Gospel St. John 1:1. The 33 years that Jesus walked on this earth especially the last 3 years of active ministry to the poor, the down trodden, to the prisoners, and to the marginalized reveals what this love means, it reveals why we should be happy at Christmas; it reveals the real meaning of Christmas.

We pray for our country the Republic of South Sudan for we know that the Covid 19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world, to us the people of South Sudan is an added burden, an added confusion and an added suffering. The expectation of the citizens of South Sudan was that 2020 was going to be the year in which they will have full swing running government with all its apparatus, a government that will represent them, a government that will render out services, a government that will together with the citizens build peace and contain violence for the people of this beloved country.

We too pray for the world, that has been confused, that has been put into difficulty at this moment, we pray that the Almighty may raise peace makers among us. We pray for our beloved country the Republic of South Sudan known for its difficulty in the midst of conflict but also known for its resilience, known for its patience and known for its tolerance in moments of difficulty. We want to recall that this country called the Republic of South Sudan also has managed to contain differences and conflict among the people. The unity, diversity and tolerance without discrimination that this country wills for, is that the wolves and the lambs, the leopard and the baby goat, the calf and the lion dwell together in peace and harmony.

Christmas is the birth of our lord Jesus Christ who lived and died for truth and justice opposing discrimination of any kind, he ate with the outcasts, the marginalized, he treated women with respect and dignity, he asked a Samaritan woman to give him water to drink this was a direct challenge to the social system of today in which Samaritan were considered low members of all the community, people who are outside boundary of the normal community, people who were considered as second class, people who were considered as the other.

In the parable of love your neighbor, Jesus portrays the Samaritan as a real follower of God superseding even the priest and Levite who seems not to understand God’s commandment to love one’s neighbor. We pray for the republic of South Sudan and society that the message of Jesus may echo in our ears that we may end all discrimination, all violence, all segregation, all corruption, all those divisions that keep us apart from each other; may we learn to treat each other with love, respect and equal dignity.

Dear brothers and sisters, my beloved people of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio remember, Jesus taught his disciples that the truth will make you free, he stood for the truth even to the point of sacrificing his life on the cross. In a world and a country like ours, filled with fake news, unfounded rumors, false accusation, character assassination, manipulation and lies; where one even find it difficult to trust what members of the community are saying, messages on social media carrying hate speech, classifying and abusing individuals; may the birth of our Lord reminds us that freedom comes from the truth.

Christmas is the celebration of Christ who taught us to stand by the truth, to live by the truth with courage and if necessary to die for the truth, may the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ give us new encouragement to usher in love, to usher in peace and harmony in our country the republic of South Sudan and the world; may each one of us promote truth where ever we are, may we promote justice, may we promote love, may we promote peace to live by the truth with courage and if necessary to die for the truth; may each one of us dear brothers and sisters live true to our brotherhood and sisterhood on the earth.

Appeal to the Government and Message to International Communities

In the name of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, I would like to make this special appeal to our government; we have spent a complete full year without a complete government, this has brought upon the country a lot of sufferings; it has brought on the country laziness, psychological inferiority, mistrust, extreme poverty and suffering; it has brought upon our country violence; please, as we celebrate this 2020, I ask, urge, plead and beg you, our dear government not to delay further in this process of completing the structure of the government so that we the people of South Sudan may feel proud of our government and they of course can deliver their obligations to this country.

To the international community as I thank you for your input and contributions, we humbly ask you to remain with us and see to it see that this peace process does not collapse, that together with you we will build the confidence and resilience in our people. We humbly ask you to support the process the implementation of this peace agreement. Please do not tire to support the needy, the humanitarian workers and also the development work because by so doing, you will be in one way or the other preventing any escalation of violence and crime.

Conclusion

To you all young people and people of South Sudan continue to be good, continue to stand by the truth, continue to love each other, continue to work and continue to be creative. To all of us who are in the faith community, the churches and mosque, may we use our spirituality, our theology to unite the people of South Sudan, may continue to pray unceasingly for the unity, for the peace and for tranquility and prosperity of this young republic. May we never use our churches, our mosques to divide, to add fuel and to confuse the people and the country but to pray and remain leaders to unite the people of South Sudan.

May I urge all of you who are using social media at this Christmas the message is wake up, stand by the truth, may we bring truth into the field of social media, may we bring the truth into communication, may we proclaim the Jesus who stood for the truth, lived by the truth, died by the truth and liberated all of us, do not carry around fake news, unfounded stories, defaming images of personality, community and people but use the media to build peace, to build unity and tranquility and progress in the people of South Sudan.

As we are still battling with this deadly disease, the Covid 19 pandemic, may we continue to abide by the rules the regulation that are put in order to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. Dear brothers and sisters let us remain in prayer and may this Christmas be another inspiration for us ,to pray always for ourselves, our families, our communities, our Diocese  of Tombura-Yambio, and our republic of South Sudan.

I pray for our political, spiritual and civic leaders, traditional leaders each and every one of you, your families that may the divine child Jesus Christ accompany each day of your lives. Merry Christmas and God

Barani Eduardo Hiiboro

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio