To 'journey together' is to take your own experiences of life's challenges and turn them into a gift of support and care for others around you. The journey is never made alone. In one way or another, it is always an experience in community. Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, because that is the beginning of a community. Along the way, they share, they argue, they reach decisions together. This mutuality is necessary so no one person "takes charge" of the journey; it is the recognition that one is not in control. The disciples also walked together so that they could be witnesses to each other, because the only way to give authority to the words of another is to have a witness.
As we completed two decades of our St Theresa of the Child Jesus, Airoli church building, we had a series of spiritual and cultural activities for almost three months. The main theme of our celebration was 'Journeying together: Impelled by the love of Jesus Christ. "If the love of Christ does not impel you, then you have not yet met Christ." When you actually start discovering who Jesus is, you will fall in love with Him, because there is no one like Him. With this thought, we embarked on a beautiful journey of our 2D (two decade) celebrations, with different committees focusing on different aspects of building renovation, spirituality and cultural programmes.
Spiritual activities included a week long Mission in Lent, community-wise Rosary in May and four days of celebration from May 25 to 29. The themes for the Triduum were: Journeying together growing in faith; Journeying together connect with others; Journeying together: a Christ-centred community.
Priests who had served in our parish were the main celebrants; Fr Sunder Albuquerque who was a pioneer in building the church, Fr Christopher Pereira who succeeded Fr Sunder and brought about a positive change in many sections spoke of how the church has progressed over the years. They shared their experiences and congratulated the parishioners for their participation and hard work. The feast day Mass was celebrated by Bp Allwyn D'Silva who reviewed the years gone by. A few sections of the church renovated for the benefit of our parishioners were blessed, and a new statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour was also blessed by Bp Allwyn. A special edition of the church bulletin was released, showcasing the talent of our parishioners, and a documentary showing the history of the church, the hardships and the victories.
The theme for the cultural activities was that we have our origin from different states, speak different languages, yet when we come to OUR CHURCH, we are all ONE. WE are the CHURCH, and we are responsible for everything. The activities included weekend stalls, raffle draw, community cricket matches, carrom competition, fun games, which ended with a cultural extravaganza on May 29, 2022, with parishioners of all age groups dancing to the tunes of various folk songs and participating in a skit to showcase that each of us has a story, but as one family, we need to look beyond the smiles at Sunday Mass and reach out to others.
The entire celebration was successfully conducted under the able guidance of our ever motivating parish priest, Fr Joe D'Mello. He said that we are all ONE big family and ensured that there were lots of surprises, gifts and fun with faith building.
May our efforts to Journey Together be a lamp to our nation, our Church, and to the world.
Wilma D'Souza
(Extract from "The Examiner - June 11-17, 2022)
