Skip to main content

Madhya Pradesh: No midnight mass, but Christmas magic enters hearts & Jesus Christ blesses all in their homes: Christmas message from Bishop of Indore & others

While coronavirus outbreak has tinted the usual Christmas celebrations, the magic of the festival found its way in form of divinity in the heart of faithful. On Christmas eve, while people could not gather for special midnight Christmas mass, everyone prayed and witnessed the birth of baby Jesus in their homes and hearts.

Most community members spend the Christmas eve praying for the world to be healed from coronavirus and sought blessings for all. A lot of community members decided to celebrate Christmas in a simpler way without decorations and used the saved amount to help underprivileged families with necessary items.

On Christmas eve, when usually, thousands gathered for midnight mass, church doors remained closed. Holy mass was organised in the evening between 5 and 7 o'clock in nine Catholic churches.

After this, the churches closed their doors for the first on Christmas night. This was done to avoid coronavirus spread and risk crowding in churches.

There will be Holy Mass and worship in churches on December 25 at 6.30 am to 8.30 am. After this, churches will be kept closed throughout the day so that the crowd does not gather. Only 100 devotees will be able to worship in the church at a time.

Churches will be open for visit on 26, 27 and 28. Keeping in mind the social distancing, stickers are placed on the benches in the St. Francis Assisi Cathedral (Red Church).

Earlier, six to seven devotees used to sit and worship on a bench, but now only two or three will be able to sit.

Sanitizer machines have been installed at many places in the church premises. It will be mandatory for everyone to wear a mask.

Christmas Message from Bishop of Indore diocese

“The world has been under the threat of Corona Virus during the last nine months. We are told to keep distance from other people. Many people have died and many are infected. Economies of nations are under great stress.

Large numbers of people have lost jobs and are facing hardships. All are in the expectation of an effective remedy. Such was the situation of human beings before the coming of Christ.

Only difference is that it was a spiritual virus which we call sin. Distance was growing in the relationship of man with man and man with God. All were in the expectation of a promised messiah who would come and free us from sin and bridge the gap in our relationships.

In the fullness of time, God send his son among us who was named Jesus because he would save his people from their sin (Mt.1.21). When the wall of sin is broken, distances collapse and relationship is established. May this Christmas bring us closer to God and to one another!

In spite of the physical distance which we are forced to keep, may our relationships grow. May our hearts be large enough to accept all and work for the welfare of all! May God fill us with love, joy and peace!”

Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal SVD

Community will attend mass in 3 separate groups at St Joseph Church, Nanda Nagar

St Joseph Church, Nanda Nagar divided church’s community into three groups and accordingly three holy Masses were planned: 7 pm on December 24, 7 am and 8.30 am on Dec 25.

The usual midnight celebrations were cancelled due to covid-19. Each celebration will have 100 to 125 people. The reason for cancellation of midnight mass was to avoid crowding in the church premises.

Church will remain closed for visitors on Dec 25.

Messages from St Joseph Church, Nanda Nagar
“We certainly pray to The Child Jesus, the saviour to rescue and deliver the entire word from the pandemic corona virus and establish peace and harmony. The humans must fly away from the hedonistic attitude to recognize the presence of the almighty.”
Fr. Thomas Rajamanikam
Priest of St Joseph Church, Nanda Nagar

“Christmas is festival of ‘All’ and not only of Christian. This year's Christmas will be different due to covid-19. Even though we feel spiritual pleasure on this occasion, this year's Christmas give important to spiritual celebration.
We should prepare our hearts as a manger where Jesus Christ can take birth. May the Almighty God give us relief from covid-19 and bless everyone. Wish everyone by heart Happy Christmas and peaceful new year.”
Sharman Vincent Francis

Prayers from St Arnold’s
“We hope your Christmas season is full of joy, peace, and love. The year 2020 has been a whirlwind, a pandemic and a nightmare for all us. However dear friends God taking the form of a poor human being born in a simple cow shed is a great consolation for all of us that he understands all our worries, difficulties, sickness, poverty, happiness and joy. Hence even in this unprecedented time of COVID-19 Pandemic where we live in the midst of a continual stream of bad news, there is always hope.

A hope is created in our minds that soon vaccine will be available, a hope that soon we will return to normalcy, a hope that soon those who lost jobs will find new jobs, a hope that soon people will set up their business to normalcy, a hope that soon schools will reopen... and friends this is the message of hope which is Christmas.

We hope and pray that your days are filled with joy and laughter among family and friends. May your new year be filled with good health and happiness! Merry Christmas!”

Fr Pious Cyriac

St Arnold's School Vijay Nagar 

St Theresa Church, Khajrana Road, Pushpnagar

In St Theresa Church, Khajrana Road, Pushpnagar, community members came together for Christmas celebration and sang carols at 5:30 pm. Further, community members attended the Holy Mass.

Fr Martin Kujur from the church shared that the main celebrants of the ceremony were Fr Philip OA and Jacob.

Every family has unique ways to celebrate Christmas

To keep up the spirit of the festival for children at home, many community members prepared a small crib wherein baby Jesus lay and blessed everyone. One such family was Sushil Francis and family, where they created a beautiful crib at home and celebrated the fest in a simple way.

Another family setting a new example was Rajesh Francis and family, which chose to feed the needy for a week by saving the money from festive celebrations.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jharneshwar Mahadev in Madhya Pradesh: a nature escape from urban jungle

Life is too short, unpredictable and an adventure if lived to the fullest. Learning the essential value of life and deciding to seek adventures in life, several groups are now connecting to nature and seeking spiritual growth. Leading a group of adventure seekers to less-known wonders of Indore, Gyandeep Srivastava, administrator of Rides of Riders group unravelled a new getaway. The group went on a long ride exploring the rural areas of the city. In their bid to seek adventure, the group came across an ancient temple ‘Jharneshwar Mahadev’ which dazzles visitors with nature, beauty and wonder. The temple is situated in Shajapur, about 230 kilometres from Indore. The waterfall of Bhadooh (Jharneshwar Mahadev), a famous tourist place falling under the Quartak Panchayat, about 30 km from Manasa in Neemuch district. After monsoons, the waterfall attracts tourists from all over state to witness the 100 feet high waterfall. There were 25 riders in the adventure trip including female rider I...

Before Pentecost, Christian community helps underprivileged families with ration

Prior to Pentecost, Christian community is following the lessons taught by Jesus Christ and helping those in need. In their drive to help underprivileged families, Christian volunteers forming a group are providing ration packets to them. Christian holiday of Pentecost, which is celebrated the 49th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday, will be celebrated on May 31 this year. The holiday commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ. Under the drive, ration packets are given to 200 to 250 people on a regular basis. “Christ was the ultimate social worker. Not only could he find housing for people, or give them free food,” Ashutosh Joseph, a volunteer said. He cited that in the Bible, God's call to His followers to care for other human beings is clear (Philippians 2:4; 1 John 3:17-18; Proverbs 19:17 New International Version). “In fact, Jesus states that one of the most important commandments is ‘love your neighbour...

What are the precautions for prevention of corona virus? Special instructions for School Students

School Education Department issued an advisory to all the school heads and officers regarding precautions to be taken against the deadly novel coronavirus to prevent the spread of infection among school children. The advisory was sent out at the direction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India with a photocopy of the letter attached. The department in its advisory stated that the world is fighting against the rapid spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). In India, too, the number of cases identified has increased in the last few days. As the school going children are also susceptible to infection and this is a crucial time for children given the end of the academic year and examination, it calls for immediate measures minimizing the effects of the epidemic. In the advisory, the department advised the schools to avoid any large gatherings of students during the course of the day in school. Any student or staff with travel history to any COVID-19 affected countr...