Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The Pious Disciples of the Divine Master (PDDM) nuns - founded in 1924 by Blessed Don Giacomo Albertione - also celebrated their centenary in Mumbai. It occurred on April 3 during a celebration presided over by Card. Oswald Gracias in the Prarthanalya Chapel (House of Prayer) located in the Bandra neighborhood of Mumbai.
The appointment, which was attended by a crowd of religious people from other congregations, benefactors and lay people, was an opportunity to also give thanks for their 70 years of apostolate in India, in the following of Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life.
In the homily, Card. Gracias underlined the very close link between the experience of Easter and evangelization. “The announcement of the Gospel is the experience of the disciples of Emmaus when their eyes were opened and they rushed back to Jerusalem – commented the archbishop of Mumbai -. All of us are an Easter people and we can say the same thing: 'Do we not have our hearts burning within us and we run to share the joy of the risen Christ?'".
“On the night that divided two centuries between them (1900-1901) - card. Gracias – the Eucharistic experience enlightened Alberione, with the choice to dedicate himself to the means of communicating the Gospel. Today the world is faced with new challenges, new situations and new philosophies: it is a time of reflection, of introspection.... This is why celebrating a centenary is an opportunity to return to questioning ourselves on how to announce, celebrate and serve Jesus Divine Master, through the Eucharistic, liturgical and priestly mission".
After the Eucharist, the nuns of the "Divya Kala Kendra" - a center run by the PDDM nuns that teaches liturgical music from both the Indian and Western traditions - proposed choreographies and staged an Indian dance recital "Women of the Gospel ", representing in artistic form the women of the Gospel, transformed by the encounter with the risen Lord.
