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Divya Kripa ChurchKasturi Villa, Plot No. 44A, Sector 20, Kharghar,

Navi Mumbai 410210

Vol. 2/No. 5

The Lovelessness Within

In recent years, the month of February in the Roman calendar has drawn such

heated debates, seething passion and murderous outrage with the desire to silence

personhood and consign it to the grave; and this largely in Indiathe land of deep

spirituality. Curious to know why? Because we expressly affirm LOVE. How absurd

and foolish that love should evoke such venom and hate! The protagonist would say,

Its only of the Valentine kind. Is love qualified? A rose by any other name is a rose.Our personhood is defined by our ability to love and be loved in return. Love is the

normal trait of man. Is it abnormal to love? It appears so with the opposition to it. In

favour of the critics of love we admit that mooching in public hurts propriety, overt

sexual actions hurts public decency and pub-culture of immodesty in dress hurts human

sensibilities. But attacking the very reality of love for what passes as love is like

throwing out the baby with the bath water. Moral and ethical policing of love in general

will send the wrong signal that all love is to be ousted or outlawed from human

relationships, which will sound the death knell of human society.

It is certain that we are not equating the gift of things, money, a handshake, acard, a kiss with true love. Love demands not so much of giving something as the giving

of someone. Our love is authentic when we give ourselves, when our life is an act of

self-giving. May we capture this idea of love and disarm the love-haters. Fr. Gerald

Fernandes, Priest-in-charge

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Parish picnic, Rasayani on 6 February 2011

Moments like

these helpfoster love andtogetherness

within acommunity

transforming itinto one big

happy familyunited in the

Lord.

Meeting and conversing Participating in team-building games

Harmonising throughmelody

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How do you deal with conflicts in couple-relationships?

We identify the problem and discuss it with each other clearly and calmly.We pay special attention to our tone of voice and the words we choose to express

our feelings.We listen to each other which further helps us to understand the situation.We take a break when the discussion gets heated and begins escalating towards

an argument. We walk away to cool off so that we can come back to thediscussion with calm and open minds.We reach a compromise together coming up with a solution decided collectively

upon as the best solution to the problem.Most importantly we put our solution into practice. Simply creating a solution

does not resolve the conflict.

Some tips to offer:There are often various facets to conflicts.Keep an open mind. Try to understand your partner's point of view.Be patient. Your loved one may not be ready to discuss the conflict yet. Give

them time to come around.Stay calm. This helps to ensure that the entire conflict resolution process will

remain calm as well.Don't rush it. If your feelings are still raw and hurt, you may not be able to

express yourself effectively. Wait before openly discussing the issue toprevent this from happening.

Keep place and time in mind when discussing the conflicts. A happy or festiveoccasion is not the best time to air your differences.Use common sense. Avoid accusations. Accusatory phrases like "you always"

and "you never" can make people become defensive. Bruno and Priscilla Correa, Our Lady of the Mount Community

To Love and To Hold

Our love story does not have a fairy tale romance or the exhilaration of young

love. Ours was and still is a sober kind of love. We first encountered each other at aprayer meeting, little realising we were destined to remain together for the rest of ourlives. In our commitment to the Lord through the prayer group, we became aware ofeach other's goodness and strengths. How else would two extremes coming fromdifferent backgrounds and having divergent food habits and sensibilities findcompatibility? We were aware of each other's shortcomings and imperfections butfirmly believed that through our mutual sharing we would make each other whole. Loveis meant to bring out the best in our partners, helping each other to be what God wants usto be. Understanding, thoughtfulness, caring, acceptance and sacrifice have taken usthrough all the conflicts and difficult situations that have come our way.

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Through the years our simple actions of love, such as providing encouragementin each other's endeavours, comforting each other when the going was tough, rejoicingin each other's accomplishments and providing a buffer while facing the harsh realitiesof life, have been the strength of our marriage. As we look forward to our Silver Jubileetwo years from now we feel we have circled back to the days of our youth when we hadfound and rejoiced in our love for each other. We still cherish the mutual love and

support we shared that helped us find our place in the world. We still hold dear to heartthe vows we made to each other, to love and to hold all the days of our life. Brian and

Janet Pinto, Christ the King Community

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Results of Crib Competition

1st Prize- Joe DsouzaDivine Mercy Community

2nd Prize- Jofy BabySt. Faustinas Communtiy

3rd Prize- Priya DsouzaSt. Faustinas Communtiy

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How do working couples handle the responsibilities at home after workhours?

Since the beginning of time the woman in the family was considered thehomemaker. She was the centre of the family taking care of hearth and home while the manwent away hunting in the forests or cultivating a farm to support his family. In most recent

times owing to recession and other factors both the spouses are now working in order tomake ends meet and to contribute to the resources for the family. The phenomenon ofworking couples has brought in its wake many new pressures on family life. Cooking,washing, cleaning, checking the homework of the children, etc. is a reality every couplehas to wake up to everyday. Parenting today is more than supervision. The time required tosupervise children and be involved in their educational pursuits often collides with theirwork schedules. Working parents striving to fulfill both their work and familycommitments feel stressed out and emotionally drained.

It's very easy for one of the spouses to claim that they had a hard day at the officeand shirk responsibilities. This does nothing but add to the pressure already on the otherspouse. And the only way to overcome it is to share responsibilities. In some families thehusband takes care of the shopping, cleaning, bathing and checking the homework of thechildren whereas the wife takes care of the cooking, washing, drying etc. For some it could

be an entire role reversal of the scenarios given above. Only through compromise andmutual understanding can they ensure that there are no loose ends which will create

problems for the entire family at some point of time.Just as it is said about how a family that prays together stays together the same

applies for a family that works separately but makes time to be together at least duringprayers. Every working member of the family has his/ her own formula for keeping the

mechanism working. It all broils down to how well you communicate with each other toovercome the hurdles that come your way. Kiran and Carol D'souza, Blessed MotherTeresa Community

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Faith Formation Programme held for the Catechism students

th thOn 13 February we, the catechism students of STD.s 7 and 8 , accompanied by our

catechist, Mrs. Jamema, attended a Faith Formation programme organised for thedeanery of Navi Mumbai at Mathru Milan church, Nerul. The topics discussed included

housing, child labour, poverty, pollution among others. We presented a skit on the theme

of poverty portraying various ways to overcome it. We ended our presentation with the

song 'Heal the world' and answered the questions put forward to us by the congregation.

Similarly, the children from the other parishes too presented their themes. This was

followed by a Bible quiz and a Eucharistic celebration. Fr. Johnson thanked each one of

us for our contribution towards making the programme a success. I would like to thank

my catechism teacher Mrs. Jamema for the help and support she gave us and for

encouraging us to do our best. Andrea Fernandes, St. Claudines Communtiy

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Community Happenings

Christmas celebrations at Jeevan Jyoti Ashram

The Christmas celebration for the residents of Jeevan Jyoti Ashram organised

by the parishioners was held on 2 January 2011. The programme began with theperformance of a skit enacted by Mr. Joe, his daughter and Mr. Bruno. The theme

selected was Save our trees, save our environment. They highlighted the need to

refrain from cutting trees for it has many uses while it stands tall. This was followed by

a joyous and melodious round of enthusiastic carol singing by the lovely ladies of the

parish accompanied by the sound of sweet chords streaming from the guitar. With the

music still resounding in our ears we joined together in uproars of laughter as Mr. Joe

and some residents of the Ashram joined the podium to share some hilarious jokes with

us. Amidst the celebrations, a sumptuous cake was cut by the Brothers of Jeevan Jyoti

Ashram and distributed to the residents and parishioners. The programme concluded

with a vote of thanks given by Brother and one of the residents, who thanked us for

making the celebration a fun- filled occasion and shared the hope of having many more

get-togethers like this. Bruno Correa, Our Lady of the Mount Community

Health Programme organised by the Women's Cell

Nothing should dampen your spirit or ruin your holidays health-wise or

wealth-wise. If you are well equipped then you can tackle any problem. So the

Women's Cell of the Divya Kripa Parish organised a workshop on Knee- related

problems on 16 January 2011 conducted by Dr. Grace Elanjikal, a well known

physiotherapist and an active member of the parish. The Do's and Don'ts wereexplained very well with a demonstration of the exercises. The workshop was indeed

very informative and effective, and benefitted all. It was a blessing in disguise for those

with knee-related problems. Thank you Dr. Grace for your service. We look forward to

attending some more beneficial workshops like this in the future. We wish you success

in all your endeavours. Joyce D'souza, St. Ignatius of Loyola Community

Animators' Get-together

Our animators' get-together on 23rd January began with Mr. Clifford D'souza

sharing his happy thoughts of how the Small Christian Communities of Divya KripaParish had grown from one single community to 13 communities distributed within

four zones. Mr. D'souza spoke passionately about the activities of an animator. He

disclosed his own experience as an active animator. He was very happy about the

progress achieved so far and urged us to share more of our time with the communities.

Mr. D'souza also shared a case study about a leading person in the community who

when faced with calamities was helped by the people of the community, deeply

impacting his life. It encouraged the community members to further group the

community into four zones enabling us to reach out to more parishioners. Following

the enlightening talk, Reshma and Mr. D'souza organised a list of games that kept all of

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us entertained and thinking, it was indeed fun to work as team in our attempts to come up

with answers. Fr. Gerry later shared his reflection on the role played by an animator and

how he truly appreciates the work that is being done. He encouraged us to approach him

whenever we encounter difficulties during our interactions with the community. We

concluded the get-together with a prayer of thanksgiving and invocation, and partedways to catch up with the balance of the weekend action. Francis D'souza, Divine

Mercy Community

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Infant Jesus Community Mass

The Infant Jesus Community assembled together on the 2 February at the Community

centre, Nimisha Hospital, Sector 12 to celebrate the feast of 'The Presentation of Our

Lord.' This was preceded by a 7-day novena which was organised by the animators at

the homes of 7 families in our community. These 7 days of prayer and intercession

helped strengthen the bonds between the community members. The community get-together was attended by 60 members. The theme of the celebration was 'Jesus the light

of the world.' The feast mass began with the blessing and lighting of candles and Fr.

Gerry spoke about the significance of this day in the Catholic Church. Fr. Gerry then

gave a short sermon on need to stay united and rooted in Christ in a community. Games

such as housie, bombing the city were played after mass so that everyone could mingle

and get to know each other better. A few spot prizes were also given away. The

entertainment programme was followed by dinner. Everyone left with a smile on their

faces. We are thankful to all those who contributed towards making this feast a great

success. Bryna D'cunha, Infant Jesus Community

St .Claudine Thevenet Cluster Celebration

On 3 February we celebrated the feast of our patron saintSt. Claudine. We began the

celebration with a brief introduction on the life of St. Claudine. The altar was beautifully

decorated by the RJM sisters with the background poster depicting the life and works of

St. Claudine. During the mass meaningful offerings of rock, sweets, youth group, human

chain and violet were offered. Fr. Gerry in his sermon explained in detail the meaning of

the novena prayer said in honor of St. Claudine and also spoke about her works and how

she specially worked for the less fortunate. The choir under the guidance of Sr. Cresencewas very melodious. At the end of the mass cake and coffee was served. Following this a

short programme was held for the community members which included some games.

Miss Angelica sang a beautiful song in honor of St Claudine which was appreciated by

everyone. Following a recap of the community activities, Fr. Gerry graced the gathering

at the meal time and prayed over all. Every family of the community brought a dish

prepared at home to the dinner adding great variety. All the members joined in fellowship

making the evening a great success. Andrea Fernandes, St. Claudine's Community

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Sourced and adapted from: Sr. Iglesias, et al, The Promise-An Introduction to the Old Testament(Word and life Publications Philippines 1996) pp.5- 6

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For private circulation only Published by Divya Kripa Church Kharghar