MINISTERS OF THE WORD AND THE ALTAR

The worldwide celebrations on 4 August in honor of St. John Marie Vianney, the patron of priests took on added significance in Sacred Heart Theological College, Shillong where 52 clerics took another step in their proximate journey to the priesthood. At the solemn Feast Day eucharist presided over by Rev. Fr. Francesco Cereda, General Councillor for Formation, 26 brothers received the ministry of lector and another 26 were instituted into the ministry of acolyte. They hail from 9 of the 10 Indian provinces, from the vice- provinces of Myanmar and Sri Lanka, with a few belonging to some of the other congregations studying in the college.

In his homily, Fr. Cereda exhorted the young clerics to root themselves in the Word and the Eucharist in preparation for their priestly ministry. Cls. Pratap Damor and George Dabre from the Mumbai province were among those who received the ministry of lector.

This important celebration was preceded by the annual spiritual retreat animated by Fr. Tom Polackal, the Spiritual Father of the community, who led the students to reflect more deeply on their experience of God and their call to ministry. Our prayers continue for all these young men as they move forward in their vocational journey preparing themselves to be dedicated ministers in the Lord's vineyard.

TO ELEPHANT FALLS

On a promising and sunny afternoon, it was an invitation I could not refuse - Come along and view some of the sights of the city of Shillong. So we set out to see among other things - Elephant Falls. A large cloud cover over the city did not deter us from making the trip. We had barely purchased our tickets for the visit and made our way into the parking lot when the heavens literally opened in a torrential downpour. After a patient wait of 45 minutes we decided that rainfall or not we were going to have a look at the falls. So with water falling all around us, we made our way carefully to the falls. Fortunately there were rather comfortable steps to descend and good safety railings.

So sheltered by our umbrellas we made our way down. What followed was some truly breathtaking sceneries. Here are a couple of pictures (taken from someone else's camera) - to give you a glimpse of what we saw. Our companions - two visitors from Italy - were left gaping at the beauty of the waters rushing down the moutains.

Suffice it to say that what we saw was worth the drenching we received in the bargain.

COMING TOGETHER

After a couple of weeks of 'holiday time' atmosphere we are getting back to business. Actually there was no real holiday because when some went for their holiday ministry others were at their MA exams and right through July there was a Khasi course for the newly arrived brothers and a few others.

Now the gang is back - almost all of the 85 odd brothers and most of the staff. Truly there is never a dull day - today began the annual retreat animated by Fr. Tom Polackal - our in-house spiritual father. That assures us of 6 days of spiritual renewal in an atmosphere of silence and prayer.

In the meantime we have among others an interesting project happening in our campus (in truth this is just one of the many things on hand). Fr. Gravier Augustine, Fr. Nazarius Lakra sdb and Sr. Jancy SMI are with us as they team up to prepare Catechetical material for the students of the 10th, 11th and 12th Standards. They are convinced that the synergy created by their praying, studying and working together on the texts along with the availability of phenomenal library resources in our college will help them achieve their goals expeditiously. Add to that the serene ambience of a theologate and one can see that they have their priorities in place. We assure them of our prayers for the successful completion of this project.

WIKIMAPIA AND SACRED HEART THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE

This evening I was looking at Wikimapia to locate Shillong and my new community on the map. I intended to pinpoint my exact location for family and friends over the continents who would like to see the place where I now live. I was amazed at how easy it is to find one's location. In truth it is also just a wee bit frightening. All one needs is to look for another famous/familiar landmark nearby and then lo and behold one can trace the place one lives in.

I began with Savio Juniorate (already marked on Wikimapia) which is quite close and then slowly made my cyber journey to our house, discovering enroute that someone has already identified Sacred Heart Theological College. The map seems to be recent with the new annexe clearly visible.

So, this is one more step before I can post some recent pictures of the wonderful campus I am blessed to live in. Welcome to my world!!!

FROM A NEW LOCATION

Dear friends,

My long silences have become so common that you could be forgiven for thinking that this blog has now been discontinued. Well this time too I have the perfect excuse for the delay in posting.

I have been moving to a new location - to take up a new job and face new challenges. The old remains an indelible memory and yet one moves on to be enriched by the newness that life brings...

I now belong to a new community in a new province. Sacred Heart Theological College is situated in North East India in the state of Meghalaya (the land of the clouds). This community is part of the Salesian province of Gauhati.

Till there are pictures to post or ideas that coalesce for sharing check out the link in the previous paragraph. Here's assuring all of you that this blog will continue and hopefully be updated more regularly...

SOME SAD EVENTS

The last weeks have seen a string of deaths among people known to me...

• On 15 May Fr. Maurice Figueiredo succumbed to his injuries sustained in a road accident in Goa...a tragic end for a dedicated catechist and pastor...
  
• On 22 May it was Archie Braganza - the grand old man of our parish who went on to his heavenly reward after suffering much in the last few months...
  
• On 23 May Marcus Brahmane - also a senior in our parish went home to the Lord... a good Christian who made many sacrifices for the education of his children...
  
• Then yesterday we received the sad news of the death of Fr. Giuseppe Moja in Italy...a true son of Don Bosco - albeit 'tough as nails' and 'quick of tongue'...
  
• Today it was the turn of the good lady Magdalene D'Souza(popularly known as "Maggie") from Nirmala Home who passed away...a quiet soul who served faithfully and without too much of a fuss...

All of them are sorely missed....

The Easter Season is as good a time if any to recall that for Christians death is not the end but the beginning of a new and everlasting life...

Eternal rest grant to all these good people Lord and may your light shine upon them and all of us...May we know your true peace!!!

FAITH NEEDS SIGNS...

It has been sometime since the last post and once again tragedy seems to make the pen move.

I received news a couple of days ago that a good friend has been diagnosed with cancer. She says she knew it was coming, but with the load of other responsibilities just kept putting off the visit to the doctor. Well now her worst fears have been confirmed.

I would like to share with all the readers of this blog her words - some of the most beautiful I have heard in a long time inspired by Mark 4:35-41. She will I hope pardon my use of them, realizing that they can bring solace to many in pain whose faith does not pre-empt worry, anger, frustration and depression. She writes:

"Having the Lord in the boat does not give us the guarantee that storms will not come our way. The only thing we know for certain is that He will get up from his sleep before we sink. The problem for me is that I don't want Him to sleep even for a second!"

So don't be too upset if in facing the problems of life your faith does not seem powerful enough to remove anxiety and worry. You, too perhaps wish that He does not sleep even for a second on His watch.

Good news - He never sleeps.