Media Release

Mangaluru, Dec 26: As bells tolled, a sea of devotees thronged St Joseph the Worker Church, Neermarga, decked up with lights, solid and beautiful crib to solemnize the feast of the incarnation, the feast of God becoming flesh (the Latin ‘in carne’ means ‘enfleshment’) with ardency and exhilaration on December 24.

Celebrating advent is spiritual preparation marked by an eager longing for the birth of Jesus Christ. An advent wreath featuring 4 candles lighting one candle of the advent wreath each Sunday with themes of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. Meaningful homilies by Fr Anil D’Mello, parish priest with anecdotes, verbal situations were cited and reflected upon that served as spiritual nourishment to the flock entrusted to his care.

Earlier, on December 24 when the clock struck 6.30 pm parish choir sang mellifluously the songs of praise and joy (Christmas Carols), spreading the message of faith, happiness and harmony and festive cheer and sense of togetherness. The Christmas Holy Mass was presided over by Fr Rohit D Costa, assistant director of St Joseph Engineering College and concelebrated by Fr Anil D Mello, parish priest and Fr Timothy Saldanha, guest priest. In his homily, Fr Rohit ingeminated that Christmas should not end in external celebrations, it should be a moment of special welcome to Jesus Christ, the God who came to dwell amongst mankind. The most expressive celebration of Christmas is to love, forgive and serve all in the spirit of unity and brotherhood and elation as Jesus Christ did. These thoughts were annotated with the help of stories and concrete examples.

The parish priest announced the names of parishioners who generously contributed for the feast and Fr Rohit D’Costa distributed blessed candles. On the whole, the liturgical celebration took place taking into consideration the COVID-19 standard operating procedures prescribed by the government of Karnataka.