Kasur (AsiaNews) For the first time, Christians in Kasur, Pakistan, marked the feast of St Peter and St Paul and large-scale celebrations are already being planned for 29 June next year. Those in Kasur are "new" Christians and they will celebrate their "golden jubilee" on 4 February 2006. Belgain Cappuchin priests would go to Kasur from Ferozepur in India to preach to Hindus and Sikhs. Christians here are not aware of this great feast but they celebrate Christmas, Easter and the feast of Our Lady in May. The feast of Kasur was born out of an initiative of a Catholic youth group "St Paul", together with the Mother Mary bible study group. People there are now anxious to know more about the martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul.
According to Pervez Shafqat, president of "St Paul", next year this feast will be marked with "great solemnity and splendour" in another quarter of Kasur, so that more people will get to know about Catholic teachings and the feasts marked by the Catholic Church.
To celebrate the feast of St Peter and St Paul, Fr Inayat Bernard, a priest of Kasur parish, narrated the story of the two apostles to the Catholic and Protestant community: "Both saints gave their lives to witness to Jesus Christ, saviour of the world. St Peter denied Jesus but after the Resurrection he professed His Name and Jesus gave him the responsibility of feeding his flock and taking spiritual care of the Church. Saul was a ferocious enemy of the Christians and after his conversion on the way to Damascus he became Paul and preached the message of Jesus in central Asia, going as far as Rome to be finally beheaded in the name of Christ."
Invited along to the feast by the "St Paul" group, Margaret Piara, director of the NGO MILAP, said that "as stones of the river which rub against each other become more beautiful, so the martyrdom of these two great apostles gives us the spiritual strength to remain faithful to Him and not to give into the temptations of superstition and idolatry."
She told the gathering about the work which MILAP undertakes among widows, orphans and the poor in Lahore, and she noted with appreciation that two women were entrusted with the readings, in a society and place where precedence is normally given to men.
Three catechists, Gulzar Tabasum, Moris Barkat and Maqbool Samuel contributed to the mass singing hymns and reading bidding prayers for the feast. Kharif, pastor of the Pentecostal Church, said a prayer so that people will remain faithful to Jesus. As there is no church building which can contain more than 70 families, Mass was held in the street.
The elderly Jamal Masih thanked the parish, the priests, catechists, the MILAP director and the two youth groups for giving their precious time to organise the songs and prayers and for raising awareness about the feast.
