ON THE LAST DAY OF MARCH  (31-03-2020)
 Dear Friends,

There is a saying that “When God closes one door, he opens four and more”. This is what I’m witnessing during this lockdown. Everything is not lockdown. Many things/aspects are open. What is most noteworthy is “our hearts are open”.  As a result, we the believing community or the charitable Christian community have responded generously. I’m very grateful to your generosity and for Mount St Joseph community who have kept their two jeeps and two kitchens (Prerana & MSJ) open and available to procure things and cook the food daily for 45 persons. 

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What has happened in the last two days?
1.    Many donors have sent financial assistance and are still sending the amount to the parish account with all the details given on our website
2.    On 30th March we purchased 12  bags of ration (since we couldn’t purchase more)
3.     On 31st March 40 bags of ration were bought
4.    The Immaculate Ward procured 30 packs of ration from the collection of the ward members through the initiative of the ward leader and left them in the parish hall.  Cheluvaraj, Arogyamary and Elizabeth Rani helped out in packing the ration individually to be distributed to 30 families.
5.    The list of the poor people is prepared covering the following areas. Kothanur Dinne, Gudda, Jambusavari Dinne and Kalena Agrahara and two families near Bannerghatta. 
6.    If you know any poor person or family struggling to feed for themselves, kindly let me know.

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How do we distribute the ration?
The ration bags will be delivered to their homes. If we call them to the Church or gather in their places, it goes against social distancing and many others who are not in the list too will come.
Fr Teyol Machado will help us with MSJ jeep. Cheluvaraj and Lawrence (Dinne) will help us to distribute in 3 areas.

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What is more?
1) I had proposed your sharing  which could be sent to our email parishihmc@gmail.com  which will be uploaded on our website. No force but welcome to send your entries.

2) The details of the online retreat in the context of corona are shared with all of you. The preparation begins tomorrow. One of the Jesuits (not me!) had said, let’s be fools for Christ. Enrol for it and you will receive the retreat materials. Those who cannot enrol can log on to the JCSA website.

3) I had wished to share the video messages daily but unfortunately I’ve no time due to procurement and other arrangements of food and ration where volunteers find hard to come by due to lockdown. Hence I’m sending daily spontaneous reflections as “Novena during the Crisis of Corona”. You can read it.

4) We will be pre-recording the Holy Week Masses beginning with Passion Sunday. Hence I need someone with the good camera with tripod. If anyone has it kindly contact Jude Britto immediately (9880655831/ mj.britto@gmail.com) . We could fix up the day and time by tomorrow to record masses.

5) Special Request: please avoid sending messages on Corona. By now all of us KNOW about Corona. Instead call up people and ask them how they are and spend time in reading, reflecting and in many other useful ways. You could write your experiences and send them to parishihmc@gmail.com . The lockdown shouldn’t end up in “mobile addiction”.

6) The distribution of the food continues daily in the parish at 7.30pm and in Kothanur Dinne at 8.00pm

7) Fr Olvin Veigas, SJ is updating and sharing his thoughts on his blog Celebrate Faith. Please have a look at it.

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As a parish priest it’s my duty to pray for all of you besides helping the poor. I hope are safe especially the elders and children. If you have concerns please call me or mail me (9972137656/ kjarunsj@gmail.com ). Let's have the inner strength to spend these days inside meaningfully as the cases of Corona infection are rising due to negligence and irresponsibility. It's hard to see the empty Church and offer Masses but still I offer daily in our Church with all the gates and doors closed. Let’s do our best and leave unto God the rest. Those who wish to contribute, kindly visit our parish website www.kalenaagraharachurch.org and do the needful.

God bless

Fr Arun, SJ