Suraduthayo

The angels sang,
hymns of victory were heard,
my Jesus, this,
your birthday, is today,
your birthday is today, indeed . .

God’s blessings are raining down, my friend,
so keep joy and love within my heart //

It brought love,
the story of peace,
write it upon the heart,
that blessing . .
all through my life
it is so very beautiful,
because you have been
right here beside me . . .

Shivering in the cold,
the glory of Christmas
lit up the whole world . .
to bear such pain,
that mountain of sorrow,
Lord, where did it
go and hide? . .

The angels sang,
hymns of victory were heard,
my Jesus, this,
your birthday, is today,
your birthday is today, indeed . .

A warm Sinhala Christmas carol by Nalin Perera of the Marians, celebrating the birth of Jesus. It opens on the sound of the Nativity: the angels sang and hymns of victory rang out, and the singer turns tenderly to the child, my Jesus, your birthday is today. The mood is pure festive joy, God’s blessings, he says, are raining down.

The middle draws the meaning of the day inward. Christmas brought love and the story of peace, and he asks that its blessing be written on the heart. His gratitude is personal and simple: all his life has been beautiful, he says, because you have been right here beside me, faith felt as steady companionship.

The last verse holds the quiet miracle at the centre of the feast. Shivering in the cold, the glory of Christmas lit up the whole world; and, he wonders aloud, all the pain, that mountain of sorrow, where did it go and hide? The birth of the child seems, for a moment, to make grief itself vanish. Sung by Nalin Perera to words by Sampath Fernandopulle, it is a joyful, heartfelt carol about the light, love and peace that Christmas brings.