The Speech which I wrote for Dr B R Shetty

St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral-Dubai

Harvest Festival

Inaugural Speech
8 minutes
530 words

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is, indeed, a great pleasure for me to be here among my close and trusted Christian community friends. We are here to celebrate the joy of good yield and express our gratitude to God for his rich blessings.
Today, on the occasion of Harvest Festival, let us all recall God’s message of love, tolerance and compassion.
May his shining example of service and the glory of his sacrifice inspire each one of us to work for peace, unity and the all-round development of humanity…
At the onset, I would like to thank Mr. Rajan K Mathew, Gen Convener and Fr. Biju P Thomas, President & Vicar of the St Thomas Orthodox Cathedral, Dubai for their warm words of welcome and traditional hospitality, which have again underlined the strong bonds of friendship that have existed between our communities. We have to work collectively for the well-being and happiness of our people.
God’s message of universal harmony and human concord is ever-relevant and eternal. Timeless, I should say! Let us on this day resolve to follow the path laid down by him and work to strengthen the bonds of unity and mutual goodwill amongst our people.
Today, as we come together and celebrate, let me also spare some moments to reflect on life. Fortunate to have been blessed with a good family, health and wealth; I am grateful to God that I could be of service to my people…to my fellow human beings in a small way. Be it providing healthcare through NMC or remittance services through UAE Exchange or through any of my other businesses. I always believe that I am in the service of God. I have no hesitation to say that I am rich… Rich not by money but in terms of your prayer’s and God’s blessings!
But there are millions who are not as fortunate as I am or as you are and are not as lucky as we are. So let us take a pledge today to dedicate ourselves to work for the progress of our people and promote peace, tolerance and harmony.
Therefore, our focus for the future would be to extend the economic opportunities to all our people and propel the prosperity towards a happy end.
Let this year’s festival inspire us to work for the unity and well-being of our people by sharing the harvest of our hard work with all. Let’s try to make this world a better and more beautiful place for the entire human race to live.
We must contribute together to the objective of this auspicious festival for the promise of progress of our fellow beings that beckons us. This thanksgiving festival provides a unique platform to strengthen the spirit of oneness in our society as we work collectively for the well-being of our people. The harvest which you would be taking home today is symbolic gesture of our prosperity now and in years to come.
Let all our actions be blessed by the God.
Once again, I extend my greetings to all my Christian friends and wish them success, prosperity and happiness. May God Bless you all!
Thank You.