We Welcome Mary at SHTC-Nashik

She stays with us in a special way during our Marian month and so today we inaugurated the Marian month with a meaningful prayer moment and the Holy Eucharist.  In keeping with the outcome of GC XXIII and the conclusion of the Bicentenary of Don Bosco’s birth we as a community have taken for our Marian month the theme “With Mary and Don Bosco be Beacons of Hope and Joy”. To make sure that this theme becomes a daily reality we chose certain weekly practices such as to grow in positive outlook, to be encouraging and supportive, to grow in compassion and to appreciate the good in the other.

During the Eucharist the Priest reminded us that Marian devotion should lead us to Jesus and all those who reach Mary will surely reach Jesus since she takes them to Him.

Every year has its own uniqueness when concerning Marian Month and so too this year. There are a number of meaningful and exciting activities planned in advance so as to be beacons of hope and joy in a best possible way. To begin with, the beautiful decorations and display of the theme, invites us to build deep relationship with Mary. Besides the usual Rosary animation and the good nights on Mary we also desire to animate daily evening recreations based on Mary.

The novices who are divided into three groups have been kept busy especially during this month by some interesting competitions such as Marian singing, Marian dance, Acting - Mary in the life of Don Bosco and Marian symposium.

During this month all want to imitate Mary in their own typical way and so a day has been allotted to each one to be living Mary in disguise and by the end of the day the community will have the opportunity to point out who Mary was for the day. 

Mary teaches us valuable lessons through her life and so we have Faith Sharing on the Marian passages so as to imitate Mary in a concrete way. The films on Mary also inspire us to get closer to Mary and so there will be two films watched during this month.

Mary always thought of the other and went in haste to reach out in service.  The theme of Marian month invites us to be beacons of hope and joy and so the community has taken up an outreach activity that is to visit the Assumption sisters, Thiloli, who run a boarding for 500 girls. Finally we desire to end the month with a meaningful Marian Nite.

All are enthusiastic and ready to be beacons of hope and joy. We pray that Mary our Mother may walk with us and guide us in this our journey towards her Son Jesus.

Blessed Maria Romero Meneses

A very happy feast of Blessed Maria Romero Meneses to you people of good will, desiring to go out to the peripheries of the world like Maria to touch the hearts of the poor and the downtrodden. Sr. Maria Romero is a successful daughter of Mary Help of Christians because she incarnates in an original and concrete way the dream of Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello through her continuous work for the poor and the needy. She is a woman of our times, born in Nicaragua in a well-to-do family and spent her life as a daughter of Mary Help of Christians in Costa Rica amidst the poorest.

Captivated by God, she dedicated herself to Him whole-heartedly, serving Him in the poorest, with a sense of responsibility and honesty. Her artistic nature, expressed itself above all in the music, the piano and the violin. She was also equally adept at accounts and constructions. Unforeseen events and obstacles put her courage to the test. A woman of the beatitudes, Sr. Maria made herself poor and one with the poor. She trained a group of youngsters to be ‘little missionaries’ to carry forward the mission of evangelization.

Praised be the Lord

for our dear Sr. Maria

the little mystic called ‘nica-tica’

cheerful yet reserved, from Granada of Nicaragua

where the little ‘nica’ was born

and contemplative – active woman of Costa Rica

from where ‘tica’ did great things.

Praised be the Lord

for our Sr. Maria

because for her you were the SUN who illumined the night

persistently seeking you in HOLINESS

in humility, pleasing you;

discovering new ways of fraternity

in carrying out little and great works

praising you with ‘ home –made’ PSALMS

and whispering secret words of love.

“Peter, you are rock and on this rock I shall build my Church”

On 29^th June 2015 we celebrated the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul the two strong pillars of the Church. St. Peter was the first successor of Jesus Christ and so, on this day we remember Pope Francis, who at present represents Jesus Christ on this Earth. Pope Francis is the 266^th successor of St.  Peter. He is known as the Pope of surprises, he believes in reaching out to the poor and marginalized. He is also called as Pope of the people.

Don Bosco our father and founder had great devotion to the Supreme Pontiff. He believed in the fact that pope represents Jesus Christ. Don Bosco encouraged his sons and daughters to have great love and devotion to the Holy Father. He often recommended his boys to pray for him as he holds a great responsibility in our Catholic Church.

Keeping the Salesian tradition in mind, we the novices of SHTC expressed our love and devotion to our Holy Father by celebrating His feast on a small scale. We began our day in a pleasant atmosphere as the Salesian group led us into prayerful mood with their beautiful animation. During the Eucharistic celebration in a special manner we prayed for our Holy Father and for all his intentions. We remembered him all through the day in our short visits to the Blessed Sacrament, rosary, etc.

In the evening to honour our Holy Father we had a short program which consisted of an address to the Pope, a poem composed on the life of Pope Francis and a skit depicting His life. Through the program we came to know more about our holy father which helped us to understand his role in the church. It was a great day which we will always remember.

Evviva il Papa!

Long live the Pope!

St. Maria Goretti

PRAYER - Feast of St. Maria Goretti

St. Maria Goretti, we pray that you may intercede for us to be chaste.

Help us to fight against our pornographic culture.

Help us to radiate true love for all and never to indulge in any fantasies,

words or acts manifesting lust. We pray for the healing of all victims of rape

and for forgiveness and new life in Christ for all who have forced others

into sexual sin.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.