Year of Faith: the challenge to bear witness to Jesus the Divine Master
by Nirmala Carvalho
More than 250 Catholics celebrated the feast day together with the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master of Bandra. For the congregation's superior, Benedict XVI's Porta Fidei reminds us that "our spirituality is to live as Saint Paul lived Christ, so that Christ may live and love through us."

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Together with the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, more than 250 members of the laity celebrated the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the Divine Master yesterday in the chapel of adoration Prathanalaya in Bandra (Mumbai).  The celebration, said Sister M. Valerian, superior of the congregation, was "even more joyful" because "the Year of Faith makes the mission, centred on Jesus the Master, even more urgent since it challenges us to know, worship, celebrate and bear witness to Jesus."

Fr George Kaitholil, author of 75 books on Jesus the Divine Master, celebrated the Eucharist with nine other priests. "True discipleship calls upon us to engage in a life of commitment," Fr George explained. "This translates in seven ways to relate to Christ: worship, love, listening as an act of the Spirit to welcome the Word of God, following Christ because thinking and acting like Him is a radical decision, obeying, imitating and identification."

Sister Valerian mentioned the start of Porta Fidei, the apostolic letter with which Benedict XVI issued the Year of Faith. "The 'door of faith' that introduces us to a life of communion with God, letting us into his Church, is always open to us. It is possible to cross the threshold when the Word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by the grace that transforms. Crossing that door means setting off on a journey that lasts an entire life."

"This reminds us that our spirituality is to live as Saint Paul lived Christ, so that Christ may live and love through us. Our expression of Christ's pastoral mission is to bear witness to the faith in every aspect of our life."

The congregation was created in 1924 by Fr Giacomo Alberione, founder of the Society of Saint Paul. The Holy See recognised the Solemnity of Jesus the Divine Master on 24 September 1958.