By Fr. Blasius Tete, SDB
Shajouba: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Shajouba turned golden (1971-2021) on 21 December 2021. The Jubilee theme was: “With God on our side we will win, He will defeat our enemies” (Ps 108:13). After the blessing of golden jubilee building by his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon, D.D. Archbishop of Imphal, the jubilee celebrations kicked off with the Holy Mass at 10.00 am. His grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon presided over the Holy Eucharistic celebrations. A total of 14 priests concelebrated with his grace.
After the entrance hymn, Fr. Athew Mathew, the parish priest of St. Joseph’s Parish Tadubi, officially welcomed his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon D.D., Archbishop of Imphal. He also welcomed other fathers, sisters, brothers, catechists, pastors, donors and well-wishers and thanked them for joining the faithful people of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Shajouba to thank God for his 50 years’ of blessings. Speaking on the occasion Fr. Athew said: “Today in your gracious prayers and support, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Shajouba bow in humble adoration before God to thank him for the golden years that he has blessed us with. Grace upon grace he has bestowed upon us. Today St. Joseph’s Catholic Church has 4 religious sisters and many more in line. We have two religious brothers.”
“Gift of vocation is a sign of growth in faith in any community. In this golden jubilee we have 17 young boys and girls who are accepting Jesus today into their hearts by receiving their first communion. We also have 4 Confirmations. Let us pray for them.” said Fr. Athew, the parish priest of St. Joseph’s Parish, Tadubi.
In his introduction, his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon D.D., Archbishop of Imphal extended his heartiest congratulations to the church members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Shajouba. “For the past 50 years you have remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and the catholic church. The members along with delegates from various parishes, priests and religious are here to rejoice with you and thank God for the many blessings he has showered upon you for the past 50 years. We are expressing our thanksgiving to God through the celebrations of the Eucharist” said the Archbishop.
Expressing his intention to make a short reflection on the first reading (on Jubilee) and the Gospel reading, in his homily, his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon D.D., Archbishop of Imphal said: “Jubilee means to ‘rejoice’. God established this jubilee for the people so that the people may rejoice. What is the reason for rejoicing? Jubilee is a time of restoration. It’s a restoration of property, restoration of relationship. During the jubilee year, the property that has been mortgaged to somebody else must come back to its original owner. Someone sold out as a slave to other people must come back to the father’s house. The reason behind is this that the land and property belongs to God and we are only temporary possessors. When we have land, when we have property, when we enjoy wellbeing, a good life, we must always remember to thank God for the gifts given to us.”
“Some very poor people, who have nothing to eat, work for the rich persons like slaves but during the jubilee year they must come back to the father’s house. The man must release the slaves because God said: ‘I freed you from the land of slavery in Egypt. Among you there must be no slaves’ ” said the archbishop.
“God established this (jubilee) so that everyone is happy. What does jubilee mean to us? What is the implication of jubilee for us during the jubilee year? We also have to restore relationship if there is persons to person, relationship is shattered, is bad we are not relating properly, family to family, clan to clan, village to village, during the jubilee year we have to restore friendship among ourselves” said his grace.
“During the jubilee we find that in many places in Manipur if one church is celebrating jubilee, another church helps. When the new church celebrates jubilee the other church cooperates. This is a very noble and very Christian attitude. We must help one another, we must love one another especially in our needs” said the Archbishop.
“As Christians, in relations to the 10 Commandments of God, our relationship with God is not always smooth, we are not always faithful. During the jubilee it is our duty as Christians to relate with God, to build up, to strengthen our relationship with God. For us catholic Christians, we have the sacrament of reconciliation to restore our broken relationship with God through the sacrament of confession. Through confession of our sins, by obtaining pardon from God, we become holier and holier, better and better. We may say why to confess our sins again and again, it’s of no use. In every confession we receive God’s special mercy. In John’s Gospel after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the apostles and he breathed upon them and said: ‘receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you refuse to forgive the sins of any, they are refused. So the power to forgive sins was given by Jesus to the apostles and apostles to their successors. Jesus knows our weakness very well, that we will make mistake. To restore this mistake, to build up relationship with him, he established this sacrament of confession” said the Archbishop.
After the Eucharistic celebrations, there was unveiling of golden jubilee monolith by Shri Losii Dikho, Hon’ble Minister, PHED, Printing and Stationery, Manipur (since he could not be present for the programme due to some unavoidable circumstances, in his name and place his beloved wife did the honour of unveiling the jubilee monolith) It was blessed by his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon D.D., Archbishop of Imphal. Soon after this, there was a short felicitation programme during which Rev. Fr. Mathew Tharakan sdb, released the jubilee souvenir and gave a copy to his grace Most Rev. Dominic Lumon D.D., Archbishop of Imphal. During the felicitation programme, the Jubilee theme song was sung which was composed by Pf. Adaphro. No sooner the felicitation programme was over, sumptuous meal was served for all the people who came for the jubilee celebrations.
The first member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Shajouba was Mr. James Lokho Kolakhe. He was baptized in the year 1960 at Don Bosco, Shillong. After him the catholic community grew rapidly by the grace of God. Thus, a new church building was built under the leadership of Mr. Salew Daili and friends in the year 1982. The church was blessed and dedicated to the Lord taking the name of St. Joseph as its patron saint. It was blessed by Rev. Fr. Joseph Edakkudan, the then parish priest of St. Mary’s, Moa on 3rd April, 1982. Today the catholic church of St. Joseph’s Shajouba has grown which gives shelter to 120 catholic families.