Vespers (Besp) observed with devotion on the eve of annual parish feast of St. Antony Church

By Alphonse Mendonsa
Bellevision Media Network

Kuntalnagar, 19 Jan 2017: On the eve of the annual parish feast of St. Antony, Patron Saint of Kuntalnagar Parish, the Vespers was celebrated with great devotion, enthusiasm at St. Antony’s Church, Kuntalnagar on the evening of Tuesday, 17 January 2017 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

 

The church as well as the premises was beautifully decorated and illuminated which manifested itself as the night approached. The church band played tunes of hymns that manifested the festive occasion. The festive ambience could be experienced through various stalls that were put up outside the church. This is the first time after renovation of new sanctuary the Vespers was conducted.

 

The chief celebrant of the Vespers was Rev. Fr. Joseph Martis, Rector, St. Joseph’s Seminary Jeppu, (Mangalore). The vespers service was also attended by many priests from neighbouring parishes.

 

 

In the church Adoration was held for the Holy Sacrament and prior to that a brief homily was delivered by the Celebrant Priest wherein he stressed on importance on reading the Holy bible and its significance. He said “The bible is the most Holy book on this earth. It is very old yet very new. It has been translated into over 1400 languages and still being translated and it shows the importance and significance of the Holy Bible." He stressed upon reading and meditating upon daily. He praised the Bishop of Udupi and Diocese for dedicating this year for the Holy Bible declaring it as “The Year of Lectio Divina” means reading the Bible devotedly, meaningfully and pondering upon its significance in our lives. He further stressed upon young children and youth to dedicate daily a few minutes to read the Holy Bible. No one is so busy that he or she can’t spend a few minutes to read Holy Bible he said and no one has ever failed in their exams because they spent time in reading the bible.

 

A brief benediction to the Holy Sacrament was held wherein all the faithful took part devotedly and bowed to the Holy Sacrament while the choir rendered devotional hymns.

 

The parish priest of Kuntalnagar Parish Rev. Fr. Denis D’sa thanked all the priests who attended in large numbers, the faithful, organizers, choir and ICYM especially.

 

After the Vespers service the faithful were seen greeting each other, visiting the stalls and lighting candles by the side of the shrine. ICYM members put up a few stalls and conducted various games which were heavily crowded until 10pm. People enjoyed all the games, variety of Ice creams, food stalls and various stalls of toys.

 

The main Holy Eucharistic Mass was held on 18th (Wednesday) at 10:30am for the annual feast of which the report will be posted here soon.