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Contents Editorial God is with us Editoral; God is with us ............... 3 Good News in Words and Deeds .. 4 Men with a Mission ....................... 6 Ordination Celebration of Dns. Micheal M. & Yacob Chilka..... 8 Our Mission-Saving Souls ?............ 9 Dimensions of Mercy...................... 12 Thank You for your Prayer and Support; Finance Reports............... 14
Contact
Fr. Vincent Porathur, MHM The Director, Mill Hill Family India, # 3-4-97/FQ/2, St. Joseph’s House, Ramanthapur, Amberpet (P.O.), Hyderabad-500 013, T.S., India. Tel: +91 7032351304 E-mail : millhill.familiesindia@gmail.com
During my visit to Mumbai on the 29th October 2016, everyone was celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights. I was thrilled to see the entire place lit up with colorful lights and all the houses with their surroundings wonderfully decorated. My heart was filled with an ardent desire as I recalled what Jesus said in Jn.8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life”. Are we not all called to be children of light? Let us share the light and love of Christ in words and deeds with our fellow brothers and sisters who have not yet fully experienced his salvation. Jesus Christ belongs to all nations, races, casts and creeds. He came into the world to save the entire human race. In spite of many troubles and negative experiences in and around us, let us not overlook how our “God who is love” (1 Jn 4:8) keeps working in surprising ways, and let us cooperate with his work. We have entered the season of Advent and wish to celebrate a meaningful Christmas: let us look up to Jesus, the “Rising Sun” who comes to visit us “with healing in its rays” (see Mal 4:2 & Lk 1:78). He alone can dispel all darkness and give us that heavenly peace and joy which the angels proclaimed at his birth. Let us welcom him and share his with those around us. I take this opportunity to wish all of you a holy season of Advent and a joyful celebration of our Saviour’s new birth, opening for us a new year of grace 2017, since he promised to be us till the end of time, Emmanuel ! God is with us !! Fr. Vincent PPorathur orathur orathur,, MHM 3
Good News in Words and Deeds It’s five o’clock in the evening. Our prayer is over and we are getting ready to leave. Daily at four p.m. all of us here in Springs of Living Water (Jeeva Jala Nilayam) gather before the Lord Jesus. We offer him thanks, listen to his Word and pray that faith in him spreads throughout the district. Ours is Vikarabad in the State of Telengana. 70 km west of Hyderabad our mission is to introduce Jesus to people and bring them the joy of his Gospel. Springs of Living Water (JJN) is an ashram with multiple aspects. Here Fr. T. Greenway lives with his collaborators in being a local witness to Jesus. First it is a place of prayer, peace and love. Daily the community prays in the morning and in the evening. In the morning, we listen to God’s Word and celebrate the Holy Eucharist. In the early evening, we offer praise and worship and pray for those who ask our prayers. We would like to think that here Jesus lives again. Secondly it is a refuge of love for anyone who needs somewhere to stay and a shoulder to lean on either temporarily or permanently. There are old and destitute people. There are young single parents with their children. There are orphans too who have
chosen to join our family. Everyone is welcome, we share what we have and give them our love. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are overburdened”. Springs of Living Water tries to echo that voice in Vikarabad. It is our joy to welcome the suffering who need a place of rest. The only question: do you need us? Thirdly it is a hub for evangelization. Daily two groups go out to meet people who have invited us to their villages. Our
outreach team consists of two sisters, one deacon, two faith animators and Fr. Tim Greenway. Our mission is to tell people about Jesus and share his love. Our search is for those moved by the Holy Spirit (John 12:21). They are open to the Gospel and welcome us into their homes. Our evangelisation is quiet and person to person. There are no ‘mass conversions’. Each conversion is a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus. Each believer commits his/her life to him. We 4
discover these people, through our friends in the villages. They tell us and introduce them to us. We go and introduce Jesus to them.
and caught nothing”. We pray that one day Jesus will have us let out our net into deep waters for an abundant catch!
Presently we go to some ten villages. Each year some will have received faith formation and are ready for Baptism. Easter is the ideal time for welcoming new members by Baptism. However, as per the need we give Baptism at Christmas too. In Springs of Living Water we follow the ancient and meaningful method of Baptizing by
However, we do have three Catholic Communities. Every Sunday, they have the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, with the Bread of the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist.
immersion. The person goes down into the water and is immersed. In this way, we visibly symbolize the reality of his/her old life of sin being drowned like Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. It also symbolizes their death and burial with Christ in the tomb. Rising from the water symbolizes their rising with Christ. They go down into the water sinners and sons of Adam. They rise from it purified and the children of God in Christ. We do not have many baptisms. Non-Catholic evangelizers have been very active and have formed some believers in almost every village. Furthermore, nowadays, few people are anxious to become Christians. Often like Peter we must say, “We have laboured all night
On Sundays in Springs of Living Water the celebration of the Holy Eucharist begins at 11 a.m. with praise and worship. We celebrate the presence of Jesus among us – remembering the Words of Jesus “where two or three are gathered in my name I will be with them”. The celebrant explains the Scriptural readings so that, those who come regularly will gradually have a deeper understanding of the Gospel and faith in Jesus. After Holy Communion to deepen the encounter with him, we expose the Blessed Sacrament and pray that Jesus touch each one. Once a month we invite everyone to Springs of Living Water for a community celebration of the Eucharist. They come from all the new villages. After the celebration, all share a meal of fellowship. Someone who has experienced God’s blessings will come forward and sponsor this meal. ‘Jeeva Jala Nilayam’ or in English ‘Springs of Living Water’ is our humble attempt to live the Gospel of Jesus in our contemporary society with the charisms the Spirit has given to us. Pray that through the same Spirit we may win many ‘souls’ for Christ Jesus. Fr. Tim Greenway Greenway,, MHM 5
MEN WITH A MISSION The Story of Mill Hill in India Continues... by Fr Mark Connolly mhm There were just four in that first group of Mill Hill Missionaries who landed in Madras in the late autumn of 1875, -but what a group! Their leader was an Irish physician called David Forbes whose medical skills enhanced the spiritual work he would later do in an area of India where medical services were rudimentary in the extreme. There was an older Belgian priest, John Sabbe, who had previously spent a short time in prison for apparent 'financial mismanagement', but who had been rehabilitated and courageously volunteered to join
this first team of Mill Hill Missionaries to set foot on the Indian sub-continent. There was a German, Theodore Dieckmann, whose linguistic skills were legendary and ensured that he would become the real 'anchor' for the whole group. Finally, there was a young Frenchman named Joseph Grand who almost joined the Paris Foreign Mission Society, but in the end opted to join this new Missionary Society of Mill Hill instead. Fr. Joseph was somewhat accident-prone and managed to blow his aim off with a shotgun, yet continued his service in India till his death. A colourful team indeed! I'm writing this from the small central Indian town of Pargi. It is now midApril and yesterday the temperature reached 41C, so I'm very conscious of the physical hardships this group of 6
pioneers would have had to endure as they struggled to begin their missionary outreach in the torrid humidity of India's East Coast without the modern benefits of fridges, fans and air conditioners. Within weeks they were immersed in the study of the difficult Telugu language until suddenly called upon to care for the victims - Christian and nonChristian - of a local cholera outbreak. When the epidemic finally subsided, they were each appointed to their various mission stations and the work of evangelization could begin in earnest. More than 140 years later that work of bringing what Pope Francis calls ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ to the poor continues. Mill Hill Missionaries have two missions - Baswar and
Vishunpur - in the North of India, and two - Pargi and Nellikuduru - in the South. In all our missions, the priority outreach is to those whom our Founder referred to as 'poorest and most abandoned'. Though they are no less colourful, in many ways our missionaries in India today are different from the original group: Most of them are Indian themselves and so they are able to present Christ to the people using the rich array of cultural and religious tools from India 's ancient past. The message they carry, however God's special love for the poor and the oppressed - is the same as the one which Fr. David Forbes and his companions brought so many years before. In this special Jubilee Year, Mill Hill in India honours its missionaries - both past a nd present.
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Thank you Lord for your Gift of Priesthood
Ordination celebration of Dn. Micheal Mandagiri, MHM by Most Rev. Dr. Moses D. Prakasam, D.D. on 29th September, 2016
Ordination celebration of Dn. Yacob Chilka, MHM by Most Rev. Chinna Bathini Bhagyaiah, on 13th October, 2016 8
OUR MISSION – SAVING SOULS ? When 150 years ago Cardinal Herbert Vaughan founded St. Joseph’s Missionary Society at Mill Hill, London, he was thinking of “souls that are the most abandoned and in the greatest need – that is, the souls without knowledge of Christ among the un-evangelised races of the world.” In our days we do not hear much talk about “souls”. We speak more about “body building”, or “physio-therapy” when speaking about bodily health, or we may talk about “psycho -therapy ” when referring to our mental and emotional needs. Even when talking about the Church’s “mission”, other aspects seem to be stressed rather than the salvation of souls. So has “saving souls” become out-dated? The Relation between Body and Soul Let us first see whether the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say anything on this matter: “The human person,
created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual (Gen 2:7). ... Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God [CCC n.362].” “... It is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living human body. Spirit and matter in man are not two natures, ... their union forms a single nature [CCC n.365].” “The spiritual soul does not come from one’s parents but is created immediately by God and is immortal. It does not perish at the moment went it is separated from the body in death and it will be once again reunited with the body at the moment of the final resurrection [Compendium CCC n.70].” “Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit (1Thess 5:23). The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce duality into the soul. “Spirit” signifies that man as ordered to a supernatural end, and that his “soul” can be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God [n.367].” 9
From these and other texts it is clear that when speaking about “salvation of souls”, we do not eliminate the soul’s relation to the body : God himself has “wedded” it to the body from the beginning, and even after death he will reunite it with the body at the resurrection for all eternity. But we do consider the soul as the most precious component of our human nature without which the body falls into decay. In our speech, do we not often mention one important part of a being while meaning the whole? Do we not speak of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the seat of his immense love but really mean the whole person of our Savior? We must also be aware of the difference between the soul in its natural state as we consider it when talking about “psychology”, and the soul in its “supernatural” state by which it is elevated to a share in God’s divine life and becomes a member of Christ’s mystical Body and a temple of the Holy Spirit. Once this “state of grace” is lost, it can only be regained through conversion and the reception of Christ’s redemptive grace in the sacraments, at least through baptism by desire. With this clarification we
can safely say that our Founder’s exhortation to pray and work “for the salvation of souls” remains a valid expression of missionary zeal also for us today. To give his exhortation a solid basis, our Founder offers us the following precious insights. The Value of Each Single Soul. “A single soul, redeemed by the most Precious Blood, is of greater intrinsic worth than the whole material globe on which we live. In some sense it is worth the infinite price that Christ has paid for its redemption.” “One soul admitted to Heaven will render throughout all eternity a greater honour to God than was rendered to Him by the lives of great Saints on earth. Their lives were of short duration, and were attended by some degree of infirmity and sin; whereas the life of a soul in Heaven is eternal and without the slightest imperfection. The honour and glory to God arising from the salvation of a single soul, whom we may have conducted to Heaven, is therefore immeasurable and eternal”. “We cannot judge of the value and beauty of the soul from the appearance presented 10
by the body. The body is simply a case, a shell, a receptacle, an instrument, for the soul. You can no more judge the value of a soul from what you see of its body than you can judge a pearl by the roughness of its shell”.
with a simple prayer like this: “Lord Jesus, what I (now) do or suffer I offer up to you for the salvation of souls, especially for those who at this moment are in greatest need of your saving grace!”
Space forbids adding more of the Founder’s insights. But even with the help of these we can start looking at people around us considering their invaluable souls rather than getting irritated by their external looks and expressions; it will help us to approach them with much greater respect. Then we can think about the innumerable people without proper knowledge of God and of Christ and start speaking to God about them in prayer. We might do it
This may well be a simple way in which, besides and beyond organised mission work, we can make our contribution to the salvation of souls and help them to receive Christ’s redeeming grace in their time of need. God may grant us, as a reward, that we start taking greater care for saving our own soul and thus become better witnesses for him in our world. Fr. Fritz, MHM
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DIMENSIONS OF MERCY “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy … By his words, his actions, and his entire person, Jesus of Nazareth reveals the mercy of God.” With these opening words of his document Misericordiae Vultus – meaning, “The Face of Mercy” –Pope Francis inaugurated the great Jubilee Year of Mercy that stretched from 8th December 2015, the Solemnity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception to 20th November 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King. However before we even realize, this great Jubilee Year of Mercy has already come to a close. Does it mean that we can forget about it? I think we must continue to understand, experience and practice it in all its dimensions. Mercy, Male and Female One point to be kept in mind was made by Prof. Fr. Francis Gonsalves S.J. at JDV, Pune: Pope Francis had purposely chosen a Marian and Christic feast respectively to open and close the Jubilee of Mercy. By this powerful and symbolic gesture our Holy Father seeks to communicate two
dimensions of mercy – i.e. female and male, maternal and paternal, Marian and Christic – in order to encourage all Christians to mirror God’s love, mercy and compassion. Mercy – Spiritual and Corporal
Another important point made by our Holy Father concerns the works of mercy. They are such a practical way of being merciful in daily life. The corporal ones are the better known ones: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to cloth the naked, to shelter the homeless, to care for the sick, to visit the prisoners, to bury the dead: if not all of these, some we can frequently practice. But the spiritual ones, though less known, should be of even greater interest, especially to missionary-minded Christians: to counsel the doubtful, to 12
instruct the ignorant, to admonish the sinners, to comfort the sorrowful, to forgive injuries, to be patient with the troublesome, to pray for the living and the dead. In such easy ways each of us can become an ambassador of God’s mercy. Mercy Undeserved Pope Francis clearly expressed that all of us are called to show mercy precisely because mercy has been shown to us first. This point is vividly brought out in a story told of a young French soldier who deserted Napoleon’s army but who, within a matter of hours, was caught by his own troops. To discourage soldiers from abandoning their posts the penalty for desertion was death. The young soldier’s mother, who
was Napoleon’s cook, heard what had happened and went to plead with Napoleon to spare the life of her son. Napoleon pointed out that because of the serious nature of the crime her son had committed he clearly did not deserve mercy. “I know he doesn’t deserve mercy,” the mother answered.“It would not be mercy at all if he deserved it”. Yes, this is the wonderful meaning of mercy: none of us deserves mercy, as we pray in Ps 129: “If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, who would survive?” So let us heed Christ’s call and: “be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36) so that we may obtain mercy in our time of need. Fr. Thomas Y, MHM
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"In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me." - Matthew 25:40 Dear Mill Hill Family Members, I , Fr. Vincent Porathur, sincerly thank you for all your paryers and financial support through out the years. From 16th October 2014 till 05th December 2016, I have received from Mill Hill Family Members in India in the Mill Hill Family Account Rs. 22,58,358/- for the Mission.
The Kingdom of God is Growing, Good News is proclaimed to the poor and needy. You and your prayers and contributions are very importent in the kingdom of God. May God bless you all.
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ST. JOSEPH’S SHRINE - INFORMATIONS All are Welcome PERPETUAL NOVENA : Every Wednesday
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6.00 p.m.
1st Wednesdays
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6.00
p.m.
Novena,
Followed by Holy Eucharist
How to reach our St. Joseph's Shrine at Ramanthapur?
Please Contact
Fr. Vincent Porathur, MHM The Director, Mill Hill Family India, # 3-4-97/FQ/2, St. Joseph’s House, Ramanthapur, Amberpet (P.O.), Hyderabad-500 013, T.S., India. Tel: +91 7032351304 E-mail : millhill.familiesindia@gmail.com OUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS
THE CATHOLIC SYRIAN BANK A/C Name: “MILL HILL FAMILY INDIA” A/C No: 027603500833190001, BRANCH: SECUNDERABAD, IFSC/RTGS CODE: CSBK0000276. 15
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