Thousands of Catholics participated in the
inaugural ceremony of three-day 8th Bible Mahotsav, which started
with prayer services at St Arnold’s School premises at Lalaram Nagar, Indore. The
function began with releasing of colourful balloons.
The short prayer service was conducted with
the message of love, harmony and peace. It was followed by a grand procession
with the Bible enthroned on a ‘palkhi’ carried out in the premises.
Thousands of devotees holding carried the
statues of Mother Mary and the newly canonized Indian St Mariam Teresia by the
devotees.
Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Catholic
Diocese of Indore, Bishop Basil Bhuria of Jhabua Diocese, Bishop Joesph of
Gwalior Diocese and the main preacher Fr Anil Dev from Varanasi led the
procession.
Following them a troupe of dancers performing
Chhattisgarh tribal dance were the highlight of the procession.
After the procession, the Holy Bible and the
statues of Mother Mary and St Mariam Teresia was placed on the stage and
garlanded by Fr Michael John, Fr Johny D’souza and Bishop Chacko.
The lamp was lit by Bishop Chacko, Fr Simon
Raj, Fr Thomas Mathew, Anil Samuel, Joseph and Philomina Anthony. Fr Sumit read
the Bible and Fr Sebastian Aikara followed him with prayers.
Addressing the assembly Fr Michael said,
“To proclaim the word, there must be a preacher.” He explained it with
reference to final epistle, when Paul tells Timothy how to build up the church
where he is ministering, and he gives instructions that apply to all pastors
and ultimately to all believers.
Bishop Chacko said, “The Word of the Lord
is the biggest treasure on the earth. It is a coincidence that our people are
celebrating the feast of Dhanteras and we are gathered here to receive the
‘dhan roopi ishwareey vachan’ (the treasure of the Lord’s Word).“
Fr Anil his first address said, “God comes
where human being lives and he is present here with us. The Lord whom you
believe is alive. He is almighty God and he loves each one of you. He forgives
all your sins because he loves you.”
The Holy Mass was celebrated, in which
Bishop Joseph Thykkattil of Gwalior diocese was the main celebrant and fifty
fathers celebrated together with 3,000 people.
In his address Bishop Joseph said, “As oxygen
is important for the life so the Word of God is necessary for life. God accept everyone
in any situation.”
Later in the afternoon, a book written by
Fr Clarence SVD titled, ‘Evangelization Award’ was released. The program
continued after lunch with prayer and worship till 8 pm.