The first disciples of John the Baptist meeting Jesus, asked Him, “Sir where do you live?” Jesus’ answer was “Come and See.” Thus began the mission journey of the disciples following Jesus. The disciples came, saw. They stayed with Jesus, imitating Him, listening to His words and learning the first lessons of the Kingdom of God Which Jesus proclaimed. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God was the mission of Jesus on earth, sowing the seeds of love, joy, peace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness, flowing from the bounty of God, the Father of all.
The same experience of the first disciples, we get here when we are in the seminary. After having initial experience with Jesus, Jesus sent his disciples to various mission places to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We the first year brothers were left with same words of Christ “Go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” We were fortunate to undergo different ministry experiences in different places. It was a wonderful pastoral experience for all of us. We were 13 of us and were divided into two groups with eight and five members each. Eight of us went to different parishes of Jashpur Diocese and another five us were placed in various parishes of Raigarh Diocese for our Christmas Ministry. Of course, we were all very happy to go to the different parishes where we started our mission with full joy.
We, the brothers who were in different places of Raigarh Diocese, had the great experience of facing the simple village life style among the ordinary people who live in the lap of nature with hardly supplied modern facilities of current , water and other necessities of life. The brothers were given different ministry by the Parish Priest of the places. Besides preaching on the Gospel values, we had the opportunity of preparing the new converts both children and aged ones for the first communion, confession and marriage. We were entrusted to instruct in catechism on various subject such as on the importance of Eucharist, Confession, and Baptism. We were also expected to prepare the people for Christmas and Cribs. We took up singing at Christmas and in simple style of villagers celebrated the “ Jalsa Parab” in great manner.
We , the brothers who were in Jashpur Diocese of different parishes, had the opportunity of doing the same ministries what the other group has done, but in addition to this, we had an special opportunity of visiting different villages before Christmas with the Parish Priest , giving the Christmas message and celebrating the Holy Eucharist.
Of course, this was our first experience and we all enjoyed it very much and will surely keep alive throughout our life as a religious people. We express our heartfelt gratitude and a special thanks to all the priests, sisters and faithful of Jashpur and Raigarh Dioceses who helped us to have a happy stay and enriching experience wherever we went.
No comments:
Post a Comment