Mayor to receive Bethlehem Light of Peace

The Mayor, Nicky Guerrero, will receive the Bethlehem Light of Peace at the Mayor’s Parlour, City Hall, on Saturday December 20 at 10.30am, on behalf of the people of Gibraltar.

The Light will be presented by Scouts Gibraltar, as is now traditional, following its collection from the Movimiento Scouts Catolicos, Delegacίon de Jerez.

Scouts will then take the Light to the Cathedrals of Saint Mary the Crowned and Holy Trinity, as well as to any person or organisation that appreciates the significance of this symbolic gift.

The aim of the campaign is to include as many people in the community as possible and to encourage all to embrace the light and peace message, which calls on Scouts to actively create peace in their environment by accepting people of different ethnic, cultural, political and religious groups.

The Mayor has taken the opportunity to wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Now in its thirty-eighth year, the Peace Light from Bethlehem campaign was originally organised by the Austrian Broadcasting Company ORF in Linz as part of a charitable relief mission called Light into Darkness for children in need in Austria and abroad.

Since 1986, co-operation between Scouts and Guides in many countries has allowed the Light to travel throughout Europe, where it is passed on in 23 European countries and, in recent years, also in North America, Mexico and Canada.

Each year, a child from Upper Austria kindles a flame from the Eternal Flame in the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. The Light is then flown to Austria, where it is distributed at a service of dedication to delegations from across Europe, who take it back with a message of peace for use at ecumenical services throughout the continent.

A Scout’s Christmas wish shared with the Light reads:

“So may this light of peace today that has travelled many miles,
Bring joy and hope to many, and fill each face with smiles.
So may every heart and home continue through the year,
To feel the warmth and wonder of this season of good cheer.
And may it bring us closer to God and to each other,
With every stranger known as friend, whether Sister or a Brother”