By Jacqueline Colaco –
Advent, which commenced on 3rd December this year is significant in the calendar year of the Church as it continues to focus on the ‘coming’ of our Lord. Four weeks during which the faithful reflect back and are encouraged to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s first coming into this world. We ponder again the great mystery of the incarnation when our Lord humbled Himself, taking on our humanity, and entered our time and space to free us from sin. On the other hand, we recall that our Lord will ‘come again’ to judge the living and the dead and that we must be ready to meet Him.
So we call to mind how our lives, here and now, participate in the eternity of Gods plan of salvation and how we hope to share eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
An advent wreath with four candles, three purple and one pink is often displayed in Churches to remind us that this is a season of hope, peace, joy and love…
On the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, we rejoice at our preparation thus far, and light the pink candle.
The lighted candles represent Christ, who entered this world to scatter the darkness of evil and show us the way of righteousness. The progression of lighting candles shows our increasing readiness to meet our Lord. This tradition if introduced within homes,will help each family keep its focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
In all, during Advent we strive to increase our longing for Christ our Savior and pray for the strength to grow in love, that the dawn of His coming may find us rejoicing in His presence and welcoming the light of His truth.
I recall as a kid in a family of seven children, come Advent, an older sister who was the designated artist, would draw a Christmas tree on a KG cardboard and sketch blank decorations on it such as candles, presents, stars, angels, snowmen, baubles. This was affixed on a wall, with a box of colour crayons placed near, with instructions that whenever we did something worthy in the aforementioned areas of caring and sharing or even abstaining from something held dear, we could colour in one blank decoration. By Christmas it was expected that the tree would dazzle bright from our endeavours, cheerily coloured and befitting therefore as a birthday gift offering to baby Jesus at the home crib prepared for the feast.
Gaudete Sunday deemed a day to review and rejoice at the preparation thus far completed would invariably coincide with getting started on creating the family crib! Being fortunate enough to live in a bungalow the chosen spot was the garden. For a start, within a space of about two by four feet, a central place was earmarked for the nativity scene. This would be constructed in the form of a cave using fistful size stones placed firmly yet haphazardly atop one another, then plastered over with wet mud so they would mould. The roads would be marked between fields in which ragi seeds would be sprinkled, marvelously sprouting into neat blades of green within the week.
On the 24th the finishing touches would be added. My brother studying Electrical Engineering would rig up a light within the cave and also within a star hanging above it. Hay was procured from a jutka stand nearby to lay on the ground beneath the statues of Mary, Joseph and cattle alongside, earmarking a place of pride for baby Jesus who’d be laid within, come midnight of Christmas. Statues of shepherds and their sheep would adorn the fields. If possible a well would be embedded using an old jam tin covered with brown paper painted with a brick lookalike exterior and filled with water, and slivers of crossed bamboo sticks fixed as a top support for a tiny toy vessel dangling from some twine. The roads leading to the cave would be paved with fine gravel and matchsticks wired together as fencing. On top of the cave would be spread some sprigs of any dainty creeper. Some of the family would be involved in decorating a real Christmas tree and others in the kitchen. We made our own decorations those days about five to six decades ago like egg shell Santa Clauses and the like! Work went on till it was time to leave for the midnight mass service.
On our return we’d assemble before the crib and Dad would place the baby Jesus statue within, while we sang carols followed by the offering of the coloured Christmas tree. Then, onto sharing a glass of homemade wine and cake plus tucking into festival specialties like kulkuls, macaroons, chaklis, til ladoos, meringues, neuris, adirsham, fudge, banana chips, etc. before calling it a night which would soon burst into Christmas Day fiesta with roast chicken and stuffing, sarpathel, sannas, salad and more with visitors dropping by between households bearing goodies and good wishes between households, and also some lonely souls sharing our Christmas meal with us.
Teatime it was off to Little Sisters of the Poor to entertain and engage with the old folks and share the contributions collected from our caroling efforts during Christmastide. Tired and fulfilled we’d come home to a quiet evening before the start of a hectic Christmas week until Epiphany when the three wise Kings would be placed in the crib, heralding the end of Christmastide and the beginning of another year to prepare for Jesus’ second coming!
Jacqueline Colaco at 68 describes herself as an ‘Armchair Minister’, a ‘People’s Person’ and a ‘Winner, not a Whiner’!
A former Bank Executive whose highly active and successful life underwent a sea change when Rheumatoid arthritis struck at age 37, she resigned when 45 and co-founded Arthritis Foundation (I). She passionately advocates for better accessibility infrastructure in India to enable mainstreaming persons with disabilities. Also promotes awareness against female foeticide/infanticide.
Owing to limited mobility and therefore largely housebound, Jacqueline’s interests range from a love of her garden to reading, music and films, TV, writing for the newspapers and other publications, interacting on social networks and visitors.
She has participated assisted by an escort in 10 marathons in her wheelchair, raising funds for disability NGOs. Also involves in a Saturday soup kitchen that feeds about a hundred hungry homeless. Enjoys her monthly outing To Catholic Club for intellectual stimulation at a book club called ‘IBrowse’.
She has retired to a Senior Citizen Home at Bengaluru to fulfill her dream of being part of community caring and sharing.
In 2010 she published her autobiography ‘Just Me, Jacqueline on My Way’ typed with a single finger!