ENTER HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING
From the village of Musthakhanpetta, Machilipatnam-India
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to Him and bless His name.” Ps. 100:4
It was the dream of the people of MustakhanPetta to have a Prayer Hall where they could come together to experience the presence of God and call upon his gracious intervention in their daily events. Their long awaited desire come true on 22 January 2022.
All of us have been living through a tough time for the last two years starting from January 2020 due to covid19 which affected the mankind mentally, physically, spiritually and materially. At this juncture the closing of the churches and lockdown has made many of us feel comfortable with the online liturgical services. But the people of MustakhanPetta under the guidance of our sisters were praying intensely and contributing their little coppers as well as their manpower, to reconstruct their very old place of worship. “We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8;28)
MustakhanPetta is an old village under Machilipatnam Parish where our sisters render their missionary service. The village consists of 75 to 80 families among them 35 of them follow the Catholic faith. Since 1980 our sisters frequent this village and render faith formation. The Chapel was very old and the people did not have enough means to construct a new one. However, their united effort, though all of them are coolies, put aside a small portion of their earnings and with the help of our Parish Priest Rev. Fr. LamuJayaraj and well-wishers, finally their dream became a reality.
On this auspicious occasion, it was a fulfilling experience to see a few members came forward to receive Jesus as their Lord and master by receiving the sacrament of Baptism and four children received first Holy communion. Therefore, the blessing of the church witnessed not just the blessing of the building, but the Church, the mystical body of Christ, which the people embraced in their life with great desire and love and committed to live as children of God. The sisters of Holy Cross community in Machilipatnam, with much enthusiasm prepared the people and children to give this great spiritual testimony. It was a great day of feast for the entire village.
As the psalmist says: “Let us thank the Lord for His faithful love and His wondrous works because God has satisfied the one who was parched with thirst, and He filled up the hungry with good things.” Ps. 107: 8-9.
