by Fr. Vincent R. Bosco sdb
Pics by Roshan Mogarnad

Tel Aviv, Sep 13: Happy Birthday Mary, mother of God! Month of September draws our attention to the unique feast of the Birth of our Holy Mother (Monthi Fest). The Indian catholic community in Israel expressed its faith, fittingly by celebrating the feast gathering around our Lady on the 10th, September at St. Anthony’s Church, Yafo, Israel. The landmark celebration saw some 2500 devotees gathered from different parts of Israel, especially from Tel Aviv the capital city.

The celebration comprised of two events: Procession from St. Peter’s Church to St. Anthony’s parish, and the holy Mass thereafter. Firstly, the car procession of Our Lady was well participated by nearly 1000 devotees, and was initiated and presided over by the auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem Latin Patriarchate, Right Reverend William Shomali. At St. Anthony’s the bishop gave the benediction of our Lady. This was followed by the lovely Mass by the bishop, celebrated in English, and concelebrated by Fr. Francis Rosario and Fr. Regi. During his sermon the Bishop stressed the idea that ‘age is not a criteria for faith’ and that Mary said ‘Yes’ to the Lord despite of being very young. The Indian employees being young could imitate her faith and courage.
 
 Interestingly this time there was the esteemed presence of our Jewish friends and Arab well- wishers. At the end of the Mass the bishop was felicitated with a shawl and was given an elegant turban – An arab bishop turned Indian! Members from Indian embassy added their support by their presence. Thanks to Fr. Jeyaseelan the Indian Chaplain, who looked to ever single event in its detail. The choir added an unique charm to the whole celebration. One of the Italian onlookers raising his eye brow wished the choir exclaiming ‘Fantastico, e auguri’ – fantastic and congratulation!

Thanks to Santhose and Prakash for the choir and their angelic voices. After the Mass there was a hip-hop dance moment – Numbers from Tamil, Telugu and kannada films raised the spirit of the dancers. Thereafter there was a delicious banquet (vegetarian), which gave a perfect end to the celebrations. In all, celebrating and being around Our Blessed Mother joins our hands far more firmly as Indians. Bharat mata ki, Jai.