Spending a Few Hours with the Lord

The priests of the Diocese of Baruipur and those in pastoral ministry in the Diocese gathered together on July 08 & 09, 2024 for recollection. Rev. Fr. Kanauj Roy, the Vicar General of the Diocese welcomed all the priests present and introduced the animator of the recollection, Rev. Fr. George Ponodath, SJ from Dhyan Ashram.

The animator began the reflection with a hymn of Rabindranath Tagore: “kholo kholo dwar rakhiyo na ar bahire amay danriye …”; asking to draw its relevance in our life and ministry. He reminded that often we close ourselves to the Lord and to the others. We need to be opened to God to be enabled to understand with compassion our wounded parishioners from their point of view rather than from our point of view. This is what it means to be opened said the preacher and we are called for this. He encouraged us not to let ourselves discouraged by the desert experiences we encounter in our mission by quoting the Holy Father, Pope Francis, who while addressing to the consecrated people said, “look at the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm and embrace the future with hope.”

It was a happy coincident to celebrate 58th birthday of Fr. J. Pathinathan and the 10th priestly ordination anniversary of Fr. Tushar Augustine Gomes. They were felicitated and congratulated with prayer, gratuitous words, songs and cutting of the cake.