Dearly beloved in Christ,

Let me at the outset wish you a blessed and happy New Year!

A very special year has just passed us by. It is not fair to judge it by our subjective experiences as a bad year as the implications of the happenings of last year for the future of humanity is yet to be revealed. This year has reminded us that human beings cannot take the events on this earth for granted. Everything is not in our control; there are things that are beyond our control and even our feeble understanding. The greatest scientist of our century Albert Einstein once wrote, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature, and you will find that behind all the discernible laws and connections there remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious.” This time has once again proved in a very clear and vivid manner the truth that without God humanity cannot have a future. We should always be people who search for God behind the curtain of material affluence.