Mangaluru : The feast of Mother Mary’s Nativity was celebrated with great pomp by St Lawrence Church Bondel parishioners. The Novena prayers were conducted at 7.30 a.m. near Church Hall The celebration was coupled with the blessing of new corn, offering flowers to Mother Mary, The beautiful age-old tradition of showering of flowers on mother Mary’s statue by children was performed to the accompaniment of hymns & band.
Rev Fr Santhosh Rodrigues, Director, Pastoral Institute was the main celebrant. Parish Priest Rev Fr Andrew Leo D’Souza, Rev Fr Arul Betharam, Rev Fr Lancy D’Souza, Rev Fr Melwin Pinto MSIJ, Rev Fr Theo Pinto concelebrated the Eucharist
In his Homily Fr Santhosh highlighted the main features of the Feast Mary’s Flowers: Humility, Patience, Gratitude, Thoughtfulness & Sacrifice and focused on the role of the family in the Church. He also said how Mother Mary is a model for our families and how we can follow in her footsteps by being obedient to God’s will and accept the challenges in upbringing our children as God’s gift.
Hence he concluded that the celebration of Monti Fest also known as ‘kutmachen fest’, includes the fellowship meal known as ‘Noven Jevan’ which is important in building and maintaining strong bonds of togetherness within families and in the society.
After mass, Parish Priest Rev Fr Andrew Leo D’Souza thanked everyone for their wholehearted support which led to the success of the feast. The Liturgy & choir by children was surely the highlight of the celebration. New grains and sugarcane were distributed to the parishioners.
