Mangaluru: Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Retired Bishop of Mangalore Diocese, administered the ‘Sacrament of Confirmation’ to 65 children on May 2, at ‘Our Lady of Miracle, Milagres’, at the 5.30 PM mass.
The Bishop along with Parish Priest and assistant Parish Priest celebrated the holy Eucharist celebration. In his sermon Bishop stressed the importance of Confirmation Sacrament. To live a catholic life every Christian are bonded to take three sacraments in their life. Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. Reconciliation will be given to get the healing for the sins and anointing of the sick. This sacrament gives the person who is sick the strength, courage and peace so they can fight through their sickness and see the healing of God. Marriage and Holy orders are called social sacraments these sacraments are given based on the choice of an individual to serve the church through religious life or marital life.
In Sacrament of Confirmation one will receive the holy spirit. We have seen in bible Jesus gives this sacrament to his disciples. They symbolically witnessed this sacrament in the form of fire upon them. Bishop said “This holy spirit will remain with you to live a Christian life and true follower of Jesus. This sacrament will guide you what to speak how to behave and how to show true spirit of a catholic life. You need not fear about others and it will boost your confidence. It will help you to judge good and bad by inspiring your value system. Pentecost happened 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. It was during this ‘quiet’ interval of 50 days that Jesus’ disciples became convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead. On Pentecost Sunday they went public and history was changed. They started to preach in different languages they became very powerful and realised why they were called for this ministry. Jesus blessed them with these words and said “Go and preach this good message to others and spread this to whole world”. Today Jesus calls each one of you to be the true followers of him. Through the holy spirit you are responsible to live the true catholic life. We are celebrating Holy rosary this month. Be the role model in your family to lead the daily rosary. Show the spirit of Catholicism with your friend’s teachers wherever you go”.
Bishop anointed 65 children with holy oil and blessed them. After the mass Bishop was honoured with a flower of bouquet by Parish Pastoral Council Vice President, Cecilia Pereira.
