Our Lady of Arabia Church, Ahmadi Celebrated Monthi Fest
“Let us celebrate with Joy the Birth of Our Heavenly MotherBlessed Virgin Mary that she may intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Mary, by a special grace, was selected to become the Mother of Jesus, through Immaculate Conception. Her birth is the reasonfor the immense joy and happiness we share on this special day. As the Divine Mother of God; Mary being a flawless example for purity, modesty, chastity, humbleness and obedience, unceasingly was forthright and archaic to the Almighty’s will. In order to commemorate this occasion on the 8th of September being her birthday, we venerate her for her explicit nature and for the gift of our Lord, whom she bore and gave to mankind.
The nativity of Mother Mary, popularly known as ‘Monthi Fest’, In general term is called as a Family Feast and it has a unique quality of fetching all Christians under one big roof for celebration. Since this feast falls on the season of the harvest, it is termed as the feast of new harvest.
Kuwait: Due to lack of infrastructure the Ahmadi Parish hadthree dumpNovena in preparing the Nativity feast of our beloved Mother Mary, culminated in a grand celebration Friday, 8th September 2017, at Our Lady of Arabia Church, Ahmadi. The Bambina of the Virgin Mary was taken in a procession, which resumed at 10.00 AM. Our beloved priest, Fr Xavier Fernandes, the spiritual director of the Konkani community of Ahmadi Parish led the procession along with Rev Fr. Fr. Anthony Lopez, Fr Noel D’ Almeida and Fr Ivan Melvin D’Souza ( OFMCap), who was the guest priest the main celebrant hails from Mangalore presently based in Sri-Lanka and Sylvester our Deacon for this auspicious occasion.
A large multitude of devotees attended the celebration irrespective of their origin. It was a crowd of the Konkani community that was present for the celebration in the church. It was quite obvious to have such a large crowd, as this church of Our LADY OR ARABIA PARISHis understood by all devotees as a miraculous church wherein lots of healing has taken place. So the people have special attraction, Love, and dedication towards Mother Mary.
The grand celebration began with the blessing of the New Harvest Corn, Sugarcane, strewing of flowers to Mother Mary, followed by the Eucharistic celebration. A very effective homily was rendered by the guest priest, Rev. Fr. Ivan Melvin D’Souza and the melodious choir both the children &Adults of Our Lady Of Arabia church, with large devotees joining actively with the choir made it lively throughout the celebration a memorable one.
After the mass, Fr Xavier expressed his gratitude and thanks to all the parishioners, the Donors, Well wishers for their varied support in preparing this feast on a grand scale, people from all over Kuwait joining the Church Our Lady of Arabia Ahmadi Parishioners giving their whole hearted co-operation in preparing and carrying out the celebration. Vote of thanks was given by Teena Machado the Secretary of KONKANI Community of Ahmadi Parish. The celebration ended with the Kissing of the Bambina Statue of Mother Mary and thereafter everyone joining the fellowship Traditional Lunch ‘Festive Meal’ better called as “Festhachen Jevan” served by M& M Caters. Around 1600plus members from all over Kuwait were present for the same. The ceaseless efforts, the incessant zeal and the constant unity of the Konkani community of our Lady of Arabia Parish, resulted in the grand success of the celebration.
Pics by: Alban D’Souza
Report by: Henry William Castelino