Blessed Feast of the Assumption

Mary's August 15th Feast of the Assumption was celebrated at Sacred Heart Mission with great participation of the faithful. Parish girls danced, other children performed scenes from Mary's life in skits, and visiting priests Frs. Aruliah and Mariadas were happy to see so much enthusiasm and devotion.  Around 500 people came in from surrounding neighborhoods to share an "agape (love)" feast, that was served in three sessions to accommodate everyone on mission grounds. People of all castes and ethnic groups ate and those from a Kakinada leper community were also welcomed and fed with care.

Joachim & Anne

Fr Varghese is feeling blessed with the beautiful new additions to the mission menagerie. Joachim and Anne were bought on these saints' feast day to replace Amala, who disappeared during monsoon floods. Pure milk is hard to obtain in Kakinada, because milk bought in packets is often diluted with tainted water. Anne will help build health among the many who visit Sacred Heart daily, with her good, pure milk. Thank you, Lord! 

July monsoons bless & challenge

Standing waters bred mosquitoes in Kakinada neighborhoods
after July monsoons.

Monsoons are welcomed in India, because they break Summer's terrible heat and drench the parched earth with needed water for crops. The seasonal rains can cause havoc in coastal areas, however, especially in poor slum neighborhoods where people lose everything when flood waters rise. 

Lack of appropriate dams and drainage systems causes sufferings and loss of life in poor villages year after year. Fr. Varghese helped evacuate his coastal people for several days in late July and fed them on Sacred Heart Mission grounds, but then joined many in the area in contracting viral fever after mosquitoes proliferated from standing water. Let's keep all our missionaries and people in these tropical regions in prayer as they face hardship and rebuild their lives post-monsoon.

People find a welcome at Sacred Heart Mission as
homes flood, shops close and food supplies dwindle.

Lent in East Godavari

Advent Deeparadhana -- worshipping Christ "with lamps"

It's cold season in India, but faithful at Sacred Heart Church are continuing their nine-day tradition in these days leading up to Christmas, gathering pre-dawn to worship Christ and to bring this worship to their streets. Asked why people gathered so early and concluded Advent in this disciplined way, Fr. Varghese reminded us that shepherds were awake, keeping watch over their flocks, when angels came to tell of Christ's coming. It's a beautiful expression of devotion, for people to wake early, wait and watch for Christ, said the priest. They declare their love of the Christ Child by processing prayerfully through their streets. 

Jesus, Light for All Souls

The Eucharist is on the altar exposed for Eucharistic Adoration. Jesus is
present here Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity.

Clay oil lamps filled compound and hall at Sacred Heart Mission in Kakinada, as faithful gathered to pray for the souls of their departed beloved Friday evening, November 4. In this special month in the Church to remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory, people had already joined pastor Fr. Varghese Kalapurakudy for a Mass in the cemetery for All Souls Day, November 2. The priest is still recovering from post-monsoon Malaria that sent him to the hospital for six days. Despite his illness, Father has kept a full schedule since returning from the hospital and a week-long diocesan priest retreat in his Diocese of Visakhapatnam. 

On Friday, he and a few helpers arranged hundreds of lamps, fastening many in peeled plantain trunks, a traditional custom in India. The effect was stunning, as faithful gathered Friday night for Eucharistic adoration. The people begged Jesus, the Light of the World, to have mercy on them and on the Poor Souls, who in turn, are powerful intercessors for their loved ones on earth. 

May the Poor Souls in Purgatory Pray for Us! Jesus, Light of the World, Have Mercy on Us!

Little clay oil lamps are fastened into peeled plantain trunks.
Jesus is Light of the World.

November is for Souls

Anyone gathering with Fr. Varghese and Sacred Heart faithful in their Kakinada cemetery November 2nd, might have seen in vibrant color this reality -- faith makes death beautiful, and that those who go before us to God, in faith, are blessed. 

Families cleaned and decorated loved ones' graves and prayed for and with the souls of the faithful departed. Fr. Varghese is still recovering from Malaria, but blessed each grave and prayed with the people, offering a special outdoor Mass. He always takes special care on the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, to explain Catholic teachings on death and the afterlife. The Poor Souls in Purgatory need our prayers, and in their gratitude, are powerful intercessors for those on Earth. In a unique way, these days of celebrating the whole Community of Faith, in Heaven, Purgatory and on Earth, are marked with solemnity, remembrance and joy.

   

To bury the dead is a Corporal Work of Mercy, and to pray for the living and the dead is a Spiritual Work of Mercy. May we live November, the month in honor of the Poor Souls of Purgatory, prayerfully and well. Dear Poor Souls in Purgatory, Pray for Us! All Saints in Heaven, hear our prayers.+++