Feast of Encounter celebrated

• Fr. Ambrose Pereira sdb

 

“Christ came as a light to cast out the darkness of injustice, selfishness and sin”, said Archbishop Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal, Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, as he addressed the consecrated religious on 3rd February, 2018 at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, Boroko.

 

John Cardinal Ribat was the presider at the Eucharistic celebration.  Concelebrating with him were eleven priests from different religious congregations.

 

The Archbishop in his homily, congratulated the religious for their zeal and enthusiasm to bring Jesus to the peripheries of the Nation.  He highlighted the ‘Feast of Encounter’, where the young and the old meet each other in the Temple.  He encouraged the religious to fight against the feeling of resignation and said, “Our congregations were not born to be the mass, but a bit of salt and yeast which would give their own contribution so that the mass grows, so that the People of God have that ‘condiment’ that they were missing”. 

 

Rather than being satisfied with the ones who come to us, he encouraged the religious to go out into uncharted waters.  “Be courageous to put out into the deep waters and be ready to take up the challenge to catch those large fish”, concluded the Archbishop.

 

The yearly event for consecrated religious was organized by Sr. Jeanne-Adeline, DW, CWR-POM Vice-President together with the women religious.  The Saleisan aspirants sang at the celebration.

 

A shared light meal was enjoyed by all, after which the women religious met to discuss and program their activities.