“We should follow the life of sacrifice as shown by St. Lawrence” - Bishop Gerald Lobo

Bellevision Media Network

Attur-Karkala, 29 Jan: “God has created human beings  to be good. However, by misusing his or her independence humans have been following a path of harm and destruction. Great saints and personalities such as St. Lawrence have sacrificed their lives for the good of other people and have become beacon of light on the top of mountains to be followed by others”, thus said Bishop Gerald Lobo, on the fourth day of the annual feast of St. Lawrence Basilica in his homily during the solemn festive mass which he concelebrated along with more than thirty priests as the chief celebrant. More than 5,000 pilgrims participated in this feast mass. The special feast masses of the day were celebrated by Bishop Gerald Lobo in Konkani and Bishop of Belthangady Rev. Dr. Lawrence Mukkhazzi in Kannada. They also offered special prayers for the wellbeing of devotees afflicted by physical and mental illness.

 

More than 350 priests and religious men and women from all over Karnataka have been attending to the spiritual needs of the pilgrims on all the five days of the annual feast of the Basilica. More than 500 volunteers have been providing their service guiding the pilgrims at different places within and outside the Basilica.

 

 

Besides the solemn feast masses concelebrated by the Bishops of Udupi and Belthangady, other masses were offered in Konkani language by priests including Fr. Jason D’Souza from Miyar, Fr. Anil D’Souza from Perampalli, Fr. Vincent Coelho from Baindoor, Fr. Ronald Serrao-Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Jeppu-Mangalore, Fr. Valeerian Mendonca, Parish Priest of Mother  of Sorrows Church, Uudpi, Fr. Albert Crasta from Gangolli and Fr. Franklin D’Souza from Hiriyur, Chitradurga.The masses in Kannada were offered by Fr. David Prakash from Chikmagaluru and Fr. Lawrence D’Souza from Shivamogga.

 

Ivan D’Souza, member of Legislative Council of Karnataka, former MLAs Ramakant Rai and Abhaychandra Jain visited St. Lawrence Basilica and paid their respect to the saint.

 

Thursday, 30 January 2020 will be the fifth and last day of the annual feast of the Basilica. There will be 10 masses on Thursday. At 10.30 am Bishop of Mangalore, Rev. Dr. Peter Paul Saldanha will concelebrate the solemn feast mass in Konkani language. The timings of the other masses are: 7am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 9.30pm in Konkani and a7 830am, and 3.30pm and 6.30pm in Kannada. With the 9.30pm mass the annual feast of St. Lawrence Basilica will come to an end.