The “Bethlehem Light of Peace” has an interesting history which started in Linz with the Christmas fund-raising project “Light in the darkness.” In the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem there is a lamp which has been burning constantly for centuries fed with oil given in turn by Christian countries. Every year just before Christmas a child who has come from Austria, lights a candle from the lamp in the grotto of Bethlehem. Since 1986 the flame which at first was handed on only within the Federal territory, thanks to the initiative of the Viennese scouts is now passed on to other countries.
This year it was Stephen, a ten year old boy from Attnang Puchheim, the son of an immigrant family who lit the candle from the Bethlehem lamp.
As the delegations gathered in Vienna received the torch to take back to their own countries they were told: You are like a flame which lights up the whole world.
This particular relay in its attempt to overcome anything which might divide peoples, is seen as one way of spreading in the hearts of all the Christmas light. Of particular significance was the coincidence that brought together in the Salesian church in Vienna, young people and the light brought from Bethlehem by a child the son on immigrants at the conclusion of the year in which the Salesian Congregation dedicated a greater missionary commitment to the gypsy, travelling peoples.
Published 24/12/2010
