St. Sebastian Church

My dear friends
It’s been a few months since we last communicated with each other.The Corona virus has struck us in a big way, with lockdowns, curfews, SOPs from the Government, the list is endless.Apparently this is a repetition of a similar pandemic, last witnessed in the year 1918.As is evident, this pandemic has created havoc the world over with lakhs of people getting infected and the number of reported deaths rising alarmingly. Read more

With great and immense joy, the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary on 15^th August. The solemnity commemorates Mary’s bodily resurrection and glorification of our Lord at the end of her life.

The word Assumption comes from the Latin verb assumere, meaning “to take to oneself”. Our Lord, Jesus Christ took Mary home to Himself where He exists. Assumption of Mary is the dogma which was proclaimed by Pius XII in his  Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, in which this perennial truth was solemnly defined: “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”. Read more

Let’s all be proud of our beloved Nation. We all have to collectively strive to make India vibrant, strong and supreme.

Wake up fellow citizens! It is Independence Day… it is the day when the nation celebrates the victory of the struggles of our freedom fighters, so that we may breathe free from foreign domination – the British Rule. It was a daunting task requiring a long arduous and relentless struggle. Hence the day assumes great importance and ought to be celebrated with due respect to those leaders who were in the forefront like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Asaf Ali, Rani of Jhansi, MangalPandey, B.R. Ambedkar, Jawarharlal Nehru, BalGangadharTilak and hundreds of others. These were the pioneers who gifted free India to her citizens. Read more

There is none that hasn’t felt the impact of COVID-19,be it as individuals, families, the economy, the governments, schools, the rich, the poor migrant workers rendered jobless & homeless-the list is endless. We have seen it all and we have felt it all. We are all in this together.

Slowly but surely, along with other places of worship, the universal Church felt this impact. Commencing with the Holy Water & Hymnals being withdrawn; receiving the Eucharist on our hand; in no time we had the actual closure of Churches/Chapels. There was an immediate sense of loss of a sacred part of our life.A miracle happened for us when Bishops streamlined morning Mass daily, joined later by other Parish Priests. In addition, spiritual inputs were relayed to us in the evenings, which people admit, increased their knowledge and faith. Read more

The buzzword in the last few months has been “immunity boost”.

Ever since COVID struck the world, more than 6 lakh people have been struck down with a death blow and lakhs more infected; recovery in most cases has largely been dependent upon the human natural self defense – the immune system.

From pills to vitamin supplements, hand sanitizers to face masks, the market has been flooded with various products claiming to protect or boost immunity to a level that may protect against this deadly virus. Read more

History

On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was formally notified about a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, home to 11 million people and the cultural and economic hub of Central China. By 5th January2020, 59 cases were known and none had been fatal. Ten days later, WHO was aware of 282 confirmed cases, of which four were in Japan, South Korea and Thailand. There had been six deaths in Wuhan, 51 people were severely ill and 12 were in a critical condition. The virus responsible was isolated on 7th January and its genome was shared on 12th January. The cause of the severe acute respiratory syndrome that became known as COVID‐19 was a novel coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2. Read more

Mogall Firgozkaramno,
Ap-aplea ganvchea askareachi porob lagim ieta mhollear soglleank ganvant kuxalkai bhogta. Vorsam fattim ghorant lhan bhurgeank vorsacho ek vistid vo kalsanv meuta mhonn jiv khuxal zatalo. Atam mhonn tuka mhoineak ek vo don tori xinvche poddtat, ani te bi tosleach somoiar ghalpache. Ganvchem fest mhonntoch soirim bhurgeank gheun thodde pautt don dis adinch ieun ravtalim ani fest zalea uprant don disamnim porot vetalim. Ferient bhonvunk mhonn mai-pai bhurgeank 2 vo 5 rupoi ditalim. Ani ghora portotanam chonneacho donno ani kaddeo-boddeo hatant dhorun nett’tan choltalim. Atam urleat teo fokot osleo adleo teo iadi. Read more

“I have come in order that you might have life – life in all its fullness.” (Jn 10:10)

All of us are constantly on a search; a search which will lead us to the better. For some the search is at a basic level of their living, a search for daily sustenance. For others the search is at a much higher level, a search to find meaning in life, a higher purpose. This search leads us to take different paths in life. Some search for meaning in the worldly things, while others move up the order to find meaning in spiritual things.

We have examples of two people who set out on a similar search. On the one hand, Alexander the Great thought that he could be happy if he has the whole world, and he set out to conquer the world. On the other hand, Francis of Assisi thought that he could be happy if he loses even what he has and he renounced all his possessions. A search for happiness leads these two men on different paths. But now when we look back at the lives of these two men, we realize who actually found true happiness, true satisfaction. Alexander may have died an unsatisfied man, but Francis of Assisi experienced the fullness of Life. Read more

The festive days are here again. Time to be joyous and wish everyone a very happy and blessed Feast of our patron, St. Sebastian. May our protector, manifest his healing prowess and heal those suffering from deadly sicknesses and viruses and always protect and save us from all evil. Read more