Fr Charles Flags off Votive Procession, Fr Dionysius Hoists Infant Jesus Flag
Mangaluru: To mark the annual feast of Infant Jesus the procession of the votive offerings was held from the Kulshekar Kaikamba grounds and culminated at the Infant Jesus Shrine Bikkarnakatte here, on January 4.
The procession was flagged off by the provincial of Carmelites Fr Charles. Superior, St Joseph’s Monastery Fr Wilfred Rodrigues OCD blessed the Votive offerings before the procession and said that the votive offerings will help the organizers to serve all the devotees who come for the novenas for nine days.
A stage programme was held at the Carmel Hills Infant Jesus Shrine premises. Director, Infant Jesus Shrine Fr Prashant D’Cunha welcomed the gathering and thanked the Infant Jesus Annual Festival committee members for their efforts in organizing the procession of the Votive offerings.
Addressing the gathering MLC Ivan D’Souza said, “Whatever we pray to Infant Jesus we get it. We call this place as Gudde, twenty-five years ago those who come here and those who come here now get a special experience. The Novena of Infant Jesus begins from today. Everyone has the fear of God, those who have the fear of God have the wisdom, fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom. In this world, everyone has problems and challenges. We need courage and peace which is not available in any shop. We don’t need any mediator to have courage but only through prayers, we will have the courage and peace in life”.
Ivan further said, “My wife and children come here every week for prayer. Today she is in Surat but she called and reminded me to attend the votive procession without fail. To achieve our goal we need God’s blessings and through his blessings, we can achieve anything. Our Holy Priests have sacrificed everything and are serving the Lord in the churches. Special about today is that we have five corporators here. This is called wisdom and Infant Jesus has blessed them. Let the celebrations go on smoothly, I wish all the very best for this programme.”
Rector of St Aloysius institutions Fr Dionysius Vas SJ said, “From today we are starting the Novenas of Infant Jesus Annual Feast. You all have participated in the votive procession with faith in large numbers. If we need to see God we need to pray. We have celebrated Christmas and on that day God became man and taught us the meaning of humanity? There is a difference between the incidents which occurred before Christmas and celebrating the Infant Jesus annual feast now. Jesus came to this world to save us from sins. In today’s world man has learnt to fly and swim but has not learnt to become a human. People from all walks of life come here to pray and experience God. Those who have no humanity cannot see God. To see God we need to be humble”.
Recalling a story of a boy, Fr Dionysius further said, “A boy asked his father whether he had 4G and 5G when he was young, but the father said that while he was young he had 3Gs, that is Pitaji, Mataji and Guruji. Pitaji (St Joseph), Mataji (Mother Mary) and Guruji is Jesus. We have a lack of love in our lives and we need someone to love us. Jesus taught us the meaning of compassion, love and sacrifice. Being Indians, we all greet others saying ‘Namasthe’, which means that the God within me recognizes the God within you. Today when we celebrate the feast of Infant Jesus, we learn to respect others.”
Recalling a story Fr Dionysius said, “Once there was a fire in the forest and all the birds and animals started to fly and run away. But there was one sparrow that was bringing water and sprinkling it on the fire, seeing it other birds began to make fun of it. The sparrow said to them, there are three types, the first ones are the ones who set fire, the second one is the ones who sit quietly when there are problems and the third ones are the ones who try to douse the fire. We need to be the third type of people. When there are problems we need to be compassionate and solve the problems.”
Fr Dionysius hoisted the Infant Jesus flag and inaugurated the Novenas.