Monday, January 11, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Christmas Celebrations in Honnavar
From 19th December we started celebrating Christmas in the different components of the project
19th December Samagratha Library children's corner
21st December Pedro Poveda Special School
22nd December Sarpi Balwadi
23rd December Staff and animators
24th and 28th December Core and ACIT
For Christmas we had with us Jenifer Cummings from England, Rozemarijn from Belgium, Joana from Goa and Greg from Gujarat. It was a joyful celebration, with the people and with the presence of the Baby Jesus in our midst.
For Christmas we had with us Jenifer Cummings from England, Rozemarijn from Belgium, Joana from Goa and Greg from Gujarat. It was a joyful celebration, with the people and with the presence of the Baby Jesus in our midst.
Nancy Fernandes
ACIT India- Honnavar Sub Group- 10 years celebration
We had 2 good celebrations to mark 10 years of the ACIT India commitment in India. The first was a spiritual renewal which was on the 30th and the second was a family day with other families participating as well on the 6th of Dec 09.
On the 30th of November the ACIT renewed their committments. 18 of them were present. Our Parish Priest Fr Francis Fernandes from St Pedro Poveda parish came to say the Mass. He gave a good homily connecting the call of St Andrew and gave a reflection and words of challenge on the Gospel text of 'salt of the earth.'
After the Mass we celebrated by cutting the cake and a dinner together. We were happy that Amit who had been away for 3 years could come for the renewal of his commitment.
On the 6th December we celebrated Family day with a talk on the role of the parents and the responsibility of the children given by Fr Rudolf Raj Pinto (OCD) apart from the ACIT members there were other couples who came for this session. We began with the prayer which was led by Fredaline. Then Lifard welcomed Fr Rudolf and the others. Fr. Rudolf shared his experience on the family. After the talk we had a break for some snacks and then a powerpoint presentation on 10 years of ACIT India specially in Honavar presented by Elizabeth.
Benjamin gave the vote of thanks and we ended the program with the song of Poveda.
We were about 35 people. We had Ines and Rozemarign (from Brussels) with us for this program.
Nancy Fernandes
Feast of Fr. Poveda in Honnavar Parish
On the 21st of November the Parish celebrated the feast of St Pedro Poveda. There were a total of 18 priests and many people came in from different parishes. The main celebrant was Fr. Gabriel Monis who gave a lovely homily about Fr Poveda and his work in connection to a life of challenge, dedication and witness to the society.
In the evening we had cultural program. In the program Rozemarign sang two songs. It was really good people appreciated her singing and especially her voice.
Advent Recollection- Pune
Advent is a new season and liturgically a new year. To mark this and help everyone prepare their to welcome Jesus in this Christmas season, the Teresian Association, Pune organized an advent recollection 29th November at Sanjeevan Ashram.
The recollection began with lighting of the advent candle followed by hymns and prayers led by Goretti and Agosh. The gathering was encouraged to spend moments of silence with the Lord to experience his presence. The group then contemplated on the question ‘Can my son come to your home? Will you open the door for me? This question left everyone deep in thought as we realized this is what the Lord asks us everyday. The response to this was written on a paper which was placed before the altar. This hour of prayer helped everyone experience the true meaning of advent.
Father Rosario Rocha, S.J. later, begun his talk with the phrase- “Living the word of God” which he developed into three main points:
How to ‘be alive to the word’ which would be possible only when one is aware of the word God speaks.
‘To have life in the word’, this can happen only when a person experiences Jesus because in John:6 Jesus speaks of himself as the ‘bread of life’ and
To ‘walk the earth with the word of God’ by being true disciples of Jesus.
He also spoke about our two concerns: being responsible towards our country and towards our society. Thus it was clear that during this season change is important and if our faith and attitude to the world around us is not right we need to renew it.
This was followed by the Mass during which Father asked everyone to share what advent meant to them.
After a sumptuous meal the adults and youth were separated into two groups. The adults had a discussion on ‘Jesus came to his own domain’ and also read the message of Advent and the Christmas Letter of Loretto, while the youth had to creatively present what they learnt during the day followed by a sharing of thoughts. The recollection then ended with a hot cup of tea and warm bonds of friendship.
Thus this recollection taught everyone that along with advent we need to bring something new in our lives. The best way to do this is to bring ‘Christ’ back to ‘Christmas’ and his word in our lives.
Lynn Nazareth
The recollection began with lighting of the advent candle followed by hymns and prayers led by Goretti and Agosh. The gathering was encouraged to spend moments of silence with the Lord to experience his presence. The group then contemplated on the question ‘Can my son come to your home? Will you open the door for me? This question left everyone deep in thought as we realized this is what the Lord asks us everyday. The response to this was written on a paper which was placed before the altar. This hour of prayer helped everyone experience the true meaning of advent.
Father Rosario Rocha, S.J. later, begun his talk with the phrase- “Living the word of God” which he developed into three main points:
How to ‘be alive to the word’ which would be possible only when one is aware of the word God speaks.
‘To have life in the word’, this can happen only when a person experiences Jesus because in John:6 Jesus speaks of himself as the ‘bread of life’ and
To ‘walk the earth with the word of God’ by being true disciples of Jesus.
He also spoke about our two concerns: being responsible towards our country and towards our society. Thus it was clear that during this season change is important and if our faith and attitude to the world around us is not right we need to renew it.
This was followed by the Mass during which Father asked everyone to share what advent meant to them.
After a sumptuous meal the adults and youth were separated into two groups. The adults had a discussion on ‘Jesus came to his own domain’ and also read the message of Advent and the Christmas Letter of Loretto, while the youth had to creatively present what they learnt during the day followed by a sharing of thoughts. The recollection then ended with a hot cup of tea and warm bonds of friendship.
Thus this recollection taught everyone that along with advent we need to bring something new in our lives. The best way to do this is to bring ‘Christ’ back to ‘Christmas’ and his word in our lives.
Lynn Nazareth
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