BIS # 3933 RELIGIOUS REVIVAL FELT AT RATHADGAON

by Bento D’Souza

RATHADGAON-AHMEDNAGAR,MARCH 3,2014: A deep religious experience engulfed the people of Rathadgaon on 27th February, after preparation by Guruji Jagtap. The revival led to the receiving of First Holy Communion by four believers, ten being confirmed and eight couples rectifying their marriages in the Catholic Church. After having lived  in sinful condition and in adulterous contact so far, their life took a turn  for the better with a new covenantal relationship born between them; a sign of the presence of Christ, the transformer of the water of human loneliness into the wine of divine friendship. Now Christ becomes the visible third partner of their marriages and their faith takes on a new meaning and significance. Visible gladness was noticed on all their faces and countenances as a result of the sacrament done within the sacred ‘tent’ of the Catholic Church. It was a fitting way of concluding ‘World Marriage day’ that is celebrated in the month of february universally on the second Sunday of this month by the Global Marriage Encounter Movement. Fr. Nelson Falcao , the Parish priest administered the sacraments of Baptism. Confirmation and matrimony and Fr. Bento D’Souza cared for the reconciliation of penitents  to God through the sacrament of reconciliation. The whole event concluded with a homily & the celebration of the Eucharist. A new fervor and vitality was felt in the villages of Rathadgaon, a village long neglected. Rathadgaon is now a village on the top of the crest of the wave of enthusiasm for their Christian faith among the eleven regularly visited  villages and twenty-five long forgotten villages in the Bhingar Mission. They are now a people of renewed faith; a new people.