St. Sebastian Church

St. Nicholas Protector St. Nicholas Protector and helper of the needy. The following accounts of St. Nicholas help us to understand his extraordinary character and why he is so loved and revered as protector and helper of those in need

• St. Nicholas giving dowry to a poor man with three daughters In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Hence on three different occasions, Nicholas tossed stockings filled with gold in their home, providing the needed dowries. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas the gift-giver! The stockings filled with gold, tossed through the open window, led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas on Christmas eve.

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A manger is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. Mangers are mostly used in livestock raising and generally found at stables and farm houses. Jesus is the King, but had no place to be born, and finally was born in a barn (shed for animals), was kept in a manger and was surrounded by the animals at the barn. But today the manger where Jesus was kept is empty.

Why am I stressing on the empty Manger?
Jesus is not there in the manger because He wants to be born in the manger of our heart. If our hearts are tuned to the worldly pleasures and materialistic things that draws our attention to a very large extent then there is no place for Jesus to be born into our hearts. Joseph and Mary went in search of a place to give birth to Jesus but no one had a place for him. So let us introspect and see if our hearts are ready to welcome Jesus or do we still want to keep the manger (our hearts) empty. Read more

Tadev:  Simao Titiv, Dev Boro dis dium. Tum hea vellar khoim gel’lo ani hi poti kosli?

Simao:  Dev tuka kurpa dium Tadev.  Ek rajki pokxache monis saman vanttale dekun hanvuim tem           saman he potient gheun ailam.

Tadev: ‘Covid’ piddek lagun zaiteo sonvstha lokak jevonn ani gorjecheo vostu haddun ditale. Hem         kam atam he pokx korunk lagleat kitem? Read more

I am the candle of HOPE
Hope for the hopeless and hope for the lost
No matter the price, Christ has paid the cost.
Jesus has come and was willing to pay,
being born as a babe that first Christmas day…. Read more

Mogall Firgozkaramno,
Dis fantear uzvaddchea bhov adim Maria Magdalene bhieun bhieun Jezuchea fondda-xim gheli. Oxem xubhvortomananim mellta. Toslich koxi ghoth atam sogllea sonvsarachi zalea. Corona Virus zaun akhea sonvsarak vidhvas zaun sogllo moniskull kallokant ani bhirantint poddlolo. Atam virus il’lo unno zaun soglle kodden zaum tem dhondeant, xallamnim ani ier kodden lok bhieun bhieun bhair sortat. Aiz tori borem asa. Faleam kitem zatelem mhonn noko zaun mon’xancher bhirant aileli ti azun vochunk nam.
Maria Magdalene ani dusreo ostoreo bhieun Jezuchea fonddaxim gheleleo. Jezucho fondd rikhamo polleun teo bheeleo ani ojeap zaleo. Jezu fonddant tankam dixtti poddunk nam punn fonda bhair tankam to mell’llo. Jezuk tinnem poilo ollkhunk nam. Punn uprant olllkhun ti ojeap zali. Read more

We are entering into the month of November, the penultimate month of this eventful year 2021. For us, Catholics, this month begins with All Saints Day on the 1st and All Souls Day on the 2nd. In fact this full month is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It is also dubbed as the ‘Month of the Dead’. On All Saints Day, we honour and pray, not only to the souls who have attained Sainthood on Earth, through official recognition but we firmly believe that all our faithful deceased in Heaven are also considered to be Saints. All Souls Day is a day for commemoration of all the faithful departed. We believe that those who have died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls, remain in purgatory, until they are finally free of their guilt through the intercessory prayers of their family & friends on earth. It is precisely the reason why this day is dedicated to prayer and remembrance so that the faithful on Earth can offer Masses and prayers in order to help cleanse these souls to fit them for the vision of God in Heaven. For us in Aquem, visiting the Cemetery to pray for the souls of our loved ones, is a lot more convenient than the good old days, when we were under Navelim Parish. It was on 21st May 2006 that our cemetery finally became a reality. On 3rd November we are celebrating the 19th Anniversary of our Church elevation Day. It was on 03/11/2002, that our St. Sebastian Chapel was elevated to the status of an independent Church of St. Sebastian, Aquem. As we are aware, we were earlier a part of the Navelim Parish, until the dawn of this historic day. Read more

Continuation……

The “9” The number “9” on the playing card symbolizes or speaks about the nine lepers who didn’t come back to thank Jesus after they received the healing (Lk 17, 11-19). Only one came back praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. (v.v 15 and 16). Gratitude should be part of our life, specially our gratitude towards God for the wonders He does in our life. Every day is a miracle, it’s all because of God. So we need to be grateful to God everyday like the leper, who especially returned to Jesus to thank Him. We need to show our gratitude towards our parents, family members, whose support and help we receive, etc. Read more

At almost the close of the year, the 2 special days etched on our mind are, 1st November – All Saints Day; 2nd November – All Souls Day.

All Saints Day : is a feast for all of us because we are called to be Saints. To be a Saint is to be Holy. For this we look for inspiration to the lives of saints. The lives they carved out for themselves in the midst of difficult and daunting circumstances. Veneration of saints is not about their statues or novenas, but about their spirituality.
In the scriptures the word ‘Saint’ is in common usage. It refers to those who are in Christ. Every Christian is called to be a Saint. It means letting Jesus have full possession of our life. It means never to choose sin over Holiness, when tempted. We often hide behind the excuse of “I am not a saint”. But the lives of saints scream out to us “It is possible”. What the saints did was, they carved a path where none existed. They lived the kind of life Jesus wants His Disciples to live. In the midst of persecution, the social set-up, their spiritual set-up, they found a way to live their spiritual life and make it fruitful. Read more

Synopsis:
The “Family Apostolate” is the mission that Catholic families have received from the Vicar of Christ – to preserve, to protect, to heal, to reform, and to restore sound family life in the modern world.

While the “Family apostolate” subject is rarely discussed and debated it is one of the founding and most important pillars in modern times where contemporary hectic life style discounts us from keeping family bonds together. The subject is so vast and complex that this writer warns he might not be able to do full justice to the subject in few paragraphs.

In a Family Apostolate a lot of stress is laid on upbringing and bonding of family members. Family is so important because of all the love and support it provides. Being with family helps construct principles and improves overall mental health. Thereafter this good DNA habit can then be infectious to others outside their domain which in turn helps to relay this effect in making other families be of an example. Therefore the apostolate of married persons and families is of unique importance for the Church and civil society.
“Family” is a community and a place that welcomes life and the school of humanity, where future spouses are best formed to become responsible parents. The problems of the modern family are to a large extent related to the conflicting nature of contemporary culture which is, complex, heterogeneous, transitional, and rapidly moving. They are the causes of confusion in many modern families. In such situations, the family apostolate knowledge enables the couples and the other members of the family to encounter one another and to achieve an integral and holistic vision of their challenges and responsibilities in the modern world. Read more

The feast of Christ The King, also called solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe. It is also called magnification of feast of Ascension. Originally it was celebrated on the last Sunday of October. But in the revised liturgical calendar issued by Pope Paul VI in1969 it is moved to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, prior to the Sunday of Advent. This is a declaration that Christ dominion is a fitting end to the Liturgical calendar. This year it’s on 21st November.

The feast was introduced in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to help the Church respond to the rising secularism and atheism in the world. Pope Pius XI in 1925 in his Papal Encyclical “QUAS PRIMAS” while inaugurating the feast of Christ The King wrote as follows “oh what happiness would be ours if all people, individuals, families, and nations would but let themselves be governed by Christ”. He further said that Feast of CORPUS CHRISTI was instituted when devotion to the Eucharist was waning. So too he notes the feast of Sacred Heart of Jesus was instituted at a time when men were oppressed by the sad and gloomy severity of “JANSENISM”. Read more