Holy Week in Siddhpur parish

Various celebrations at Siddhpur parish

As the season of Lent set in, Stations of the Cross were conducted at different Catholic homes of Siddhpur parish. Our parishioners were glad to receive the Lenten pilgrims from Bochasan and Gandhinagar parishes who had a meaningful time of prayer in the peaceful atmosphere of Umru. 

As it is the custom at Siddhpur parish to celebrate St. Joseph’s feast and pray for the families and for good spouses, the parishioners had gathered to celebrate the feast with the Holy Eucharist followed by Agape meal. 

The Holy week began with the celebration of Palm Sunday in the new premises (for the past three years we had been celebrating in a rented apartment). The parish had a surprise guest Fr. Abraham sj for Maundy Thursday, who was overjoyed with the meaningful service he witnessed. He appreciated that the spouses washed each other’s feet after the priest washed the feet of some. Fr. Xavier James helped them to make the washing of the feet more meaningful by saying three words to each other: whilst washing with water - ‘forgive me’, whilst drying with towel - ‘thank you’ and 'love you’ - while kissing the feet. It was a wonderful time to pray together after the Eucharistic procession before the altar of the repose which was beautifully decorated by the parishioners, in various languages. On Good Friday, His Grace Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes presided over the service at 3 pm followed by the Stations of the Cross. Easter vigil was presided over by Fr. Xavier James and the parishioners participated with gusto. 

On Easter Sunday, the parish priest blessed the few homes and all parishioners gathered together to have Easter festive lunch at Shaji Susan’s residence. We pray for a Spirit filled Easter season for all. (Xavier James)