St. Joeph's Cathedral, Nellore

To Stay back in Nellore was not my decision. Circumstances forced me to spend the Christmas at St. Josephs Cathedral Church.  Thank You God! it turned out to be a wonderful experience. 

Cathedral church is the seat of the Nellore Bishop. Christmas was celebrated with due respect to the Grace. Beautifully decorated with lights and flowers the church glowed in the Christmas eve. I reached there early. The service started at 11pm and got over  by 2.15 am. It was a memorable evening. 

As the night grew colder the canopy cover which they have fixed all over the cathedral courtyard came handy. The disciple sisters and the hospital sisters - both the convents and a host of others worked really hard with the preparations. Even I got a chance to help Kalyan and Amal Raj who were setting up the Crib inside the church. 

The main crib was outside the church near to the stage. It was beautiful indeed. The Bishop house had its own crib which was small, but cute. The Cathedral had a sprawling crib with huge crib set. 

Since there is Adoration going on from 9am to 6pm, the retired fathers also come in to join. It was touching to see their enthusiasm. 

Earlier in the day, nearly 100 LKG students came into the church along with their teachers. Assistant parish priest gave them a message and blessed them. They were very obedient. 

Christmas Month

Its about ten in the night. The hotel kitchen adjacent to my bachelor Pad is in its final flurry of the Sunday feast. I can hear the fries and the excited voice of the staffs.

At St. Josephs cathedral in the morning, the sisters of the convent had put up a stall selling Christmas decorations. They also had some competitions for the Sunday school children. The little ones participated with much eagerness and excitement. The Nursing students were very few this week. The sister at the convent told me, some of the collegs do not allow the students to attend the mass at all. She requested if I can take up the matter with the Educational consultants who bring them here from Kerala to request the colleges to let them attend the mass atleast once a month.

Nellore is getting colder and the nights are getting longer. Sun light goes out by 5.30pm.

The training at the university is going good. The best thing that happened to me was the opportunity to volunteer at a local college to help some MCA students with their spoken English. The students are mostly Telegu speaking and I am very excited with the opportunity.

Ofcourse, miss going to Lady of Ransom. We might get some holidays for Christmas.

Blogspot is difficult in Internet explorer. It is hanging up on me many times. One of the reasons why I have very few posts here lately.

St. Joseph's Cathedral Nellore

Last two Sundays were almost wiped off with rain at Nellore. Though we survived the destructive Phalin Cyclone and the Helen scare without much trouble, Lehar was supposed to blow off Nellore. We survived that too, luckily the cyclone changed the land crashing a few Kilometers away from the Town I am at now.

This Sunday broke with mild dew and cool air. I went for the the 8.30 Am mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral. Though the service was in Telegu, which I have  not mastered yet, after the mass some 70 nursing students from Vijaya Nursing College came together and offered the Mercy Chaplet soul stirringly. I joined them whole heartedly.

That was the bright spot of the day.

Three months into the program, I am surviving each day with His help. Trying hard to be with Him as much as possible in words and  deeds for the strength and grace to deal with day and its load.

Amazing is the Lord's way, I have come across here a few who are going through the similar life stage but doing well with their faith even though they are from different faith than mine. Great learning experience indeed.