REPORT OF THE PASTORAL MINISTRY IN MATRIDHAM ASHRAM, VARANASI 10th DECEMBER TO 2nd January

St Charle’s seminary sends the students of theology for the pastoral ministry. The twenty students of the third year theology were sent to Matritham Ashram, Varanasi. Fr. Anil Dev I.M.S. is the superior of Matritham Ashram. He welcomed us to his Ashram with great hospitality. There are around 25 ashramites serving in the Ashram as staff and non staff. Thousands of Christu bhaktas gather together for prayer service of healing on Sundays.

We were sent two by two by the Ashram to different villages for six days. Each one had a wonderful experience of witnessing the faith of Christu bhaktas for Lord Jesus Christ. Since we were sent by the Ashram, Christu bhaktas had great respect and concern for us. We used to conduct prayer service in different villages. The most wonderful thing is that their faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God is tremendous. They relate their every activity to the person of Christ Jesus, because they have encountered Christ Jesus in some way the other.

We also had Ashram experience, in a sense staying in the Ashram as ashramite. Matritham Ashram is a place of calm and quiet. We had three days of retreat by Fr. Vincent.

We also had a talk on evangelization by Fr. Vincent. On Christmas day, thousands of people specially the people of other faith came to celebrate the birth of Jesus. On this occasion, we rendered our valuable services for the success of the celebration.

On Christmas season, we were sent to Mughal Saray to help the church.    Five of our brothers got chance to pray over the sick people and controlling the crowds, for thousands of devotees visit the Christmas Crib. We also had an experience of Christmas Mela in cathedral of Varanasi. The Chrismas. The Christmas Mela in cathedral consist of varieties of presentations such as exhibition of Bible story through technical equipments, varieties of stalls etc. thousands of people mostly the people of other faith came to be the part of the Christmas Mela. We had a beautiful occasion to tell the story of Jesus to them and also helping the committee in various ways for the smooth function of the Christmas Mela.

We also had Varanasi darshan arranged by Matritham Ashram. We visited the Ganges, the holy place of Hindus and Buddhist place where the Lord Buddha had preached. We departed from Matritham Ashram on 1^st of January 2010.