Kuwait: The 9-day Novena celebrating the feast of the Nativity of our beloved Mother Mary culminated in a grand celebration on Friday, September 2, 2016 at Our Lady of Arabia Church, Ahmadi. The Bambina of the Virgin Mary was taken in a procession, which resumed at 10.00 am. Rev. Fr. Xavier Fernandes, the spiritual director of the Konkani community led the procession along with Rev Fr. Frederick Braggs (Cap), who was the guest priest from Mangaluru for the auspicious occasion.
A large multitude of devotees attended the celebration irrespective of their origin. It was a crowd of the Konkani community that was present for the celebration in the church. It was quite obvious to have such a large crowd, considering the love and dedication that people express towards Mother Mary.
The grand celebration began with the blessing of the New Harvest, strewing of flowers to Mother Mary, followed by the Eucharistic celebration. A very effective homily was rendered by guest priest, Rev. Fr. Frederick Braggs and the melodious choir consisting both children and adults of Our Lady of Arabia church. The large number of devotees joined actively with the choir making the celebration a memorable one.
After the mass, Fr. Xavier expressed his gratitude and thanked all the parishioners, the donors and well wishers for their varied support in preparing for the feast on a grand scale. People from all over Kuwait joined Our Lady of Ahmadi Parishioners giving their whole hearted co-operation in preparing and carrying out the celebration. The celebration ended with the Holy Hour being the First Friday of the month and everyone with their family joined the fellowship Lunch, where everyone was served with the traditional ‘Festive Meal’ better called as “Festhachen Jevan”. Around 1700 members from all over Kuwait were present for the same. The ceaseless efforts, the incessant zeal and the constant unity of the Konkani community of our Lady of Arabia, resulted in the grand success of the celebration.