Vatican's Deepavali message: Let's join hands as children of God

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

“May God, the source of light, fill your minds and hearts with peace and joy, and your families and communities with grace and happiness!”

This was at the heart of the message of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue to those celebrating the Hindu feast of Deepavali (or Diwali), this year being celebrated on Thursday, October 31.

The letter was signed by the Dicastery’s Prefect, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ, and its Secretary, Msgr. Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage.

The feast of Deepavali, which in Sanskrit means “row of oil lamps” and is one of the most important Hindu feast days, celebrates the victory of truth over falsehood, light over darkness, and good over evil. 

Harmonious coexistence

In their letter, the Vatican officials observed how cities and countries are becoming always more diverse and went on to offer some thoughts on how both Christians and Hindus can promote harmony amidst diversity and despite differences. 

According to God’s plan, they said, diversity and differences are not meant to be a threat to anyone’s existence but a gift for harmonious coexistence.

They are, they stated, “relational mosaics of a pluriform edifice in which humans of all colours, creeds and cultures can live together.”

The Dicastery Prefect and Secretary lamented that the divine vision of fostering harmony through God’s own power, in and through diversity, is "supplanted by ideologies that favour exclusion, discrimination and conformity on both the individual and collective level.”

Threats which destroy harmony

“Religious fundamentalism, extremism, fanaticism, racism and hyper nationalism in different parts of the world,” they observed, are examples of ideologies “that destroy harmony."

Moreover, the Vatican officials warned, they give rise to "suspicion, prejudice, mistrust, hatred and fear" among people, “thereby impeding them from forging bonds that sustain human fraternity and social friendship.”

Therefore, they suggested, there is more than ever the need "to rediscover the divine plan for humanity" and "nurture in our communities, cities and countries the spirit of fraternity that binds everyone together as God’s children and as brothers and sisters."

Concrete action and collective effort

Sowing the seeds of harmony with those different from us, they maintained, is "a practical necessity" that "calls for concrete action and collective effort from all individuals, families, educational institutions, media, communities and nations."

In this context, they called on all people of good will to work towards breaking down stereotypes and fostering empathy, sensitivity and respect for those who are different from us.

“As believers grounded in our own respective religious traditions and as persons with shared commitment to strengthening harmonious coexistence in society,” Cardinal Ayuso and Msgr. Kankanamalage concluded, “may we, Christians and Hindus, join hands with the people of other religious traditions and with people of good will, do all that we can to promote harmony amidst diversity and despite differences.”