The pastoral mission in the diocese of Kumbakonam is well organized, coordinated by the director of the Pastoral Centre. Fifteen commissions are in operation: Evangelisation, Catechetics, Liturgy and Children, Women, Laity, Parish Council, Ecumenism and Dialogue, Basic Christian Communities, Bible, Youth, Family, Retired Govt. Officials, Vocation and Clergy, Society of St Vincent de Paul and Legion of Mary, Charismatic Movement, Scheduled Caste and Tribe. Some of the commissions do operate individually, headed by a Priest, except the Women commission, which is headed by a Religious Sister, while some are coupled together for operational convenience, depending on the volume of work they undertake. Each commission is committed to giving a monthly and periodical report to the Curia and this will be published in the newsletter of the diocese each month. The commissions are quite active and they keep the parishes busy all the time with visits, discussions, planning, programmes, celebrating and reporting. In the art of farming and cultivation, pruning plays an important role. Experts remark that it is surprising the amount of dead wood one can shake out of a very good tree and plant after a hard winter or dry season, and they stress the necessity of pruning and cutting back branches in order to produce fruit. In many ways, our lives are no different from a garden -the gospel is telling us that it is amazing the amount of dead wood that can be found in a good life. To get the best out of our lives, we need caring and cultivation in getting rid of weeds and briars, which, if left unchecked, will choke and destroy Christian growth. This means cutting away what is useless and nourishing what is good. The good fruit that we are expected to bear is love of our neighbour, in word and deed. This is the test of our genuineness because it has the stamp of the love of Christ imprinted in it. There is nobody without fault and even the best of people can be torn apart on their weaker side. The decision to live love has its price and we should not minimise the difficulties involved. The practical love of our neighbour will more than make up for a multitude of our own sins. If Jesus is to have an effect on the world, it is through His followers living in such a way that people will see the hand of God at work in the most ordinary situations in our lives. The best contribution that we can make to the wellbeing of the Church is to allow Christ’s love to seep into our own lifeblood. If we live in Christ and He lives in us, the fruit we can bear is beyond imagining. God demands a lot from His children, in expecting them to make the Church a vibrant community by living good and fruitful lives. Have a fruitful week ahead.
Between today’s ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday and Pentecost, we are invited, as a Diocese, to come together for four weeks of prayer to the Holy Spirit, to grant us a missionary spirit through the raising up of new vocations to all walks of life in the Church, and especially to the priesthood. Please take one of the leaflets available in the pews, to read more on this call to prayer. In his message for this, the 61st, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis says ‘Each year, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations invites us to reflect on the precious gift of the Lord’s call to each of us, as members of his faithful pilgrim people, to participate in his loving plan and to embody the beauty of the Gospel in different states of life…..Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace, wherever we find ourselves.’
The Diocese of Kumbakonam in the state of Tamilnadu in India covers the whole district areas of Perambalur, Ariyalur where the avocation of life of Catholic people is as agricultural labourers, barring a few having a small landholding, but these parts are rainfed and some with irrigation from open wells. The diocese shares some parts of Trichy, Thanjavour and Thiruvarur districts, where the supply of water for irrigation is from the river Cauvery and its tributaries. This is the fertile delta region of the river Cauvery. In both these areas, most of the Catholics are daily wage workers and some of them are small landholders. Overall, the diocese is rural-based and no cities are in its boundary and so people are simple, poor, pious, church going and much involved in church activities. The picture of Christ as Good Shepherd tending his sheep is a favourite in Christian circles and people have been comforted and consoled by His seeking out the lost sheep and carrying it on his shoulders. The image provides inspiration, as it expresses the type of care, compassion and guidance which Christ offers to all of us. This instils hope in us and increases our confidence. Even when sin causes us to wander and stray, the Good Shepherd is there to come to our rescue. We can ask ourselves how we are responding to the closeness of the love and care God has for us. Is it evident by word and example that Christ is the cornerstone of our life, or have we kept him at a safe distance? We, in turn, need to be caring and draw close to those we meet. Sometimes, we deceive ourselves by keeping people at arm’s length, with obligations to nobody. Caring for one another is shown by discreet acts of kindness, like making a phone call, giving an understanding look, greeting someone or an unexpected gift - all of which say, ‘I am with you’. It offers hope to a friend, to continue on the road of life with a tiny flame of confidence in their heart. Our call from baptism is to have hands to help others, feet to hasten to the poor and needy, eyes to see misery and ears to hear the sighs of our friends in sorrow. This is what being a Good Shepherd really means. Have a caring week.
The Diocese of Kumbakonam was born on 1st Sep. 1899, bifurcated from the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and was entrusted to the Paris Foreign Mission Society (Missions Étrangères de Paris) and now we have our indigenous Bishops. The diocese is keen on the pastoral ministry and care of the people and eventually there were lots of conversions in the missions and we have two social service centres doing the development works. In education, the diocese has 123 schools, of which 13 are Higher Secondary (till year 12), 2 technical schools, 1 school for those with hearing or speech impairments. In health ministry, there are 2 leprosy hospitals, 8 general hospitals, 20 dispensaries, 2 homes for the aged and 2 for differently able. We are in Easter season, celebrating Christ’s victory over death. Yet, today,the readings focus on the necessity of repentance, conversion and the avoidance of sin. There are no shortcuts to eternal life - death and resurrection must take place in each of our lives. We must die to self in order to live in God. Sin must be avoided at all costs. Resurrection must take place here and now in the life of every Christian. True life is not something we achieve overnight but is a gradual transformation that takes place within us, as we turn away from the deed of darkness and live for God. In the gospel, Christ opened the minds of the disciples to understand the scripture. They were to be witnesses, preaching penance for the remission of sins. Our minds and hearts should be opened and it’s our turn to be witnesses to the gospel. The first disciples could not keep the good news to themselves but hurried to share it with those who had ears to listen. If we are to be witnesses to Christ’s gospel we must stop living in a halfhearted manner and show forth the resurrection in our lives. Drawing close to Christ implies truly Christian behaviour and being of one mind and heart with Him. May we strive to be true witnesses to the Risen Christ. Have a Great week ahead.
Happy Easter and best wishes for Divine Mercy Sunday. Herewith I shall give a paragraph of my background in each newsletter, since some of our parishioners were interested in knowing some details. As you all know, I am a diocesan priest of Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu, which is heading for its 125th year in September this year, with 262,462 Catholics (as at 2021), 4.4% of the total population, in 93 parishes having 174 diocesan priests and 94 religious priests, along with 647 female religious sisters working in the diocese. There is an old French saying which states that ‘God often visits us but most of the time we are not at home’. In today’s gospel, when Jesus appeared to the apostles while they were at prayer, Thomas was not at home. The others tried to convince him, as best as they could, that they had seen the Lord, but his reaction was doubt. All that went on at the Last Supper and the death of Jesus on the hill of Calvary had crushed Thomas, leaving him disillusioned, angry and deeply wounded and not easily able to trust again without a proof. It's consoling because our path of faith in the Lord is often a slow walk-through moment of doubt and confusion, creating a rift between ourselves and God. Is it any different from our reaction and lack of faith when our life is shattered by a death in the family, the loss of a job etc? The loud doubts Thomas echoes lurk in all of us. Jesus respected Thomas’ honesty and met him at the very point of uncertainty. God understands our situation, too, in moments of crisis and despair. Doubt for Thomas proved to be a growing point of faith, made stronger when tested. As descendants of first believers, our faith should have life in his name, as it made real impact on the lives of early Christians. They took it to heart and reached out, related and encouraged one another in a prayerful spirit of neighbourliness. There is no greater example of faith than to live with others in a common spirit of friendship, harmony and love. May we strive our best to express our faith in love of our brethren. Have a great Divine Mercy Sunday
Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week and is a day of glory and impending tragedy. The scene is set, with Jesus making his triumphant journey from Bethany to Jerusalem, where he started the final movement which would bring all and everything together through his death, crucified as a common criminal on a cross. The sight of Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, with people waving palm branches, shouting ‘Hosanna’ and acclaiming him as a conquering King, made the visiting crowds, gathered for the festival, stop in amazement. They are not aware that the rejoicing would quickly be swept aside. Before long, as triumph turned to tragedy, those palm branches took the shape of a cross and the hosannas became jeers and calls for his death. Holy Week is the most sacred time of the church year. It highlights the peak moments of Christ’s love for us, gives us an opportunity to look at our lives and accept responsibility for our sins. The Passion story spells out the last events of the life of Jesus and makes clear the price he paid for our sins. He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all. There was nothing to comfort Him: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This reminds us that we also journey to God, whose friendship we seek. We also should be aware that we have to meet the same fate as Jesus, whose suffering and death we must join to share his glory. Our victory, like Christ’s, comes only through the cross. In this final week of Lent, while making special effort to attend the church ceremonies and listen to the Passion story in a spirit of prayer, there is no point in comforting ourselves with the thought that a group of Jews two thousand years ago crucified Christ. Each of us had a hand in his death because the face of Christ is marred and scarred by the violence and injury which we inflict on our neighbours. No-one can follow Jesus through the liturgy of Holy Week without the truth dawning anew in our hearts. The truth is that God loves us all, with a love that cost him death on the cross. God loves us. Have a blessed Holy Week.
There is a sign-up sheet at the back of the Church, for Sacristans, Co-ordinators, Welcomers, Readers, Offertory Collectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Communion. If you are willing to help at any of our Triduum or Easter services during the last week of March, please add your name to the sheet, by Sunday 17th March . Thank you, as always, for your help with these important ministries.
Please view our full schedule of Holy Week and Easter Services - download HERE (PDF) Copies are also available from the back of the Church. Please take one home with you and encourage family and friends to join us as we celebrate Holy Week and Easter.
It’s so impressive that the most deeply moved truth is that we are forever loved by God. We do believe, as Christians, with all conviction, that God’s love reaches down into our sick, bruised and hurt world in the person of Jesus and this is the very essence of the gospel story - “God so loved the world that he sent his only son, so that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life”. God does love us, to the extent of offering His life to all and He excludes nobody. We come to realise the magnitude of God’s love for us by looking at the crucifix. All life’s cruelties, hatred and injustices are concentrated in that cross, planted on the hill of Calvary, and the passion and death of Christ mean that it has become the supreme proof of God’s love. When all else fails, the despairing and the lonely are drawn towards that far-off cross, aware that there is someone to turn towards. The upright cross, once a sign of shame and humiliation, becomes a channel of healing grace. The tree of death becomes the tree of victory. The first reading tells how Israel, as a nation, has been disobedient to the law of God and scorned his love. They broke the covenant and brought about the destruction of their temple and city. Many appeals through the prophets went unheeded and, even in the darkest hours of exile, God never abandoned them but kept calling them back. This is a stark reminder of what happens when we refuse to take God’s love seriously and reject it out of hand. It brings home to us that we, also, are faced with the choice of accepting or rejecting God’s love, which is stronger than death. God respects our personal freedom and will not force His love on us against our wishes. As we approach the halfway mark in our Lenten journey, it is time to review if our lives are joyful responses to God’s love. Is His love finding expression in the way we live? What are we doing to bring the love of God into the lives of our friends? Lent is a call to step out of the ways of darkness into the light of Christ. Let us all reciprocate the Love of God. Have a fruitful week ahead.