St. Thomas Parish in India hosted for the first time an event called Rise Up, filled with the moments of testimonies, worship and praise, held by the Shalom Catholic Community. The paths that led the Shalom Community to India involved an online prayer group, a lot of sharing and parrhesia. Sophia Yolung, a young Indian woman, discovered during the pandemic an online prayer group called Alive in Christ, organized by the missionaries of the Community that welcomes people of different nationalities.
Being a faithful participant of the group, Sophia nurtured the desire that the experience she had in the group would be shared also with the young people she knew, especially those in the parish. Thus, with parrhesia and dialog, the project of a missionary action with the Saint Thomas Youth movement became a reality.
The Rise Up kerygmatic event took place on July 6th, with the presence of almost 200 people. The evening was filled with the moments of praise, testimonies of the missionaries and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
The value of the personal experience with Christ and its revolutionary power in the life of any person was the central theme of the missionaries’ testimonies. The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with the experience of the living presence of Christ.
“Atithi Devo Bhava” – Welcome, Sharing and Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Indian people firmly believe in the Sanskrit phrase “Atithi Devo Bhava“, which means that we should treat our guests as God. India is diverse in its culture, tradition and languages, but what unites these values is the common belief in hospitality, in which they consider and treat their guests “as God himself“.
Thomas Youth Movement kicked off the Rise Up event by welcoming the members of Shalom Catholic Community – Nara Santos, Dcn. Tiago Soares and Fr. Diego Soares with a dance and a tribal folk song of welcome, sung in Sadri dialect of Jharkhand. As most of the parishioners belong mostly to the tribal communities of Oaron, Kharia and Mundas of Jharkhand state, they had “the immense pleasure of sharing their tradition and culture with the Shalom Catholic Community”, as Preeti Kullu says.
Firstly, the missionaries were welcomed with a handmade garland, sprinkled with water from lota (pot) with mango leaves, and then had their hands washed. In Indian culture and ancient tribal tradition, welcoming guests with goodwill and showing them honor is very important.
The tribal folk dance, in which hands are joined like chains and danced in unison, combining the steps with intricate footwork, is a beautiful traditional way of celebrating and bringing people together. Traditionally, the instruments used are the ‘maandar’ and ‘nagara’, made of wood and often used by the tribal communities of Jharkhand during the celebrations.
Further on the elements of welcoming the missionaries, Preeti Kullu further explained the meanings of the songs sung: “The lyrics of our first welcome song meant ‘Our guests have arrived from a faraway land, let us welcome them by washing their hands and welcoming them with garlands’.
The lyrics of the next song, in which we danced in a procession leading our guests into the church, meant: ‘Let’s walk together and slowly take each step together. Life in Christ is so beautiful and brave, let’s walk together slowly, taking those steps together towards our life in Christ.’”
Rise Up – Testimonies
“My experience of Rise up and the time spent with Nara, Dcn. Tiago and Fr. Diego has been unique and precious and a lifetime memory that I will always cherish and embrace in my heart. And whatever I’ll write in this testimony will always fall short on expressing what I truly felt in these 3 days.
During the adoration, I could feel the presence of the Lord and I could see people immersed with the emotions and it felt like each one of them was having a conversation with the Lord. I don’t know what happened to me during the adoration. My eyes were pouring out tears and it wasn’t even stopping.“ (Preeti Kullu)
“Rise Up was a totally different experience for me. I experienced the Lord in a very different way. The Shalom people were really good. During the event I really felt the presence of the living Christ. Rise up brought me closer to the Lord. Looking forward to more such events with Shalom.” (Donald Minj, parishioner of St. Thomas Church)
“My experience at the Shalom event was one of a kind. Getting to know about the Shalom Catholic community was one of the great things that happened to us and everyone. During the whole adoration session, I could see people filled with emotions and most of us felt something very different and quite new. I had this feeling of being renewed in faith, wanting to cry from heart but that cry made me happy. Being a part of the youth council, we also got the opportunity to interact with Nara, Deacon Tiago and Father Diego on a personal level, by sharing some moments with them which we all will cherish for the rest of our lives.” (Kenneth Toppo)