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From the earliest ages of the Church, whether in times
of triumph or in times of crisis, Catholics have always offered prayers of
petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And
never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine
King, Jesus Christ for we have been taught that the Virgin Mother of God
reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is
crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.
Hence, it is not surprising that even in this part of
the world, the Arabian Peninsula, that we extol Mary's queenly dignity.
The title 'Our Lady of Arabia' (or 'Queen of Arabia') even though it
seemed quite "new", yet, the Right Rev. Apostolic Administrator of Arabia
had approved it in 1948. It was meant to fulfill the prophecy of the
Blessed Virgin contained in the Magnificat, "Behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed!" (Luke 1:48). A Marian title is thus a
jewel in Mary's crown, making her more visible and her blessedness, more
radiant! Yet, her glory is not for herself as she always points the way to
her Son... "Because the Virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as
to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right
that the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen'." (St. Alphonsus
Ligouri) But, she is called 'Queen', not only because of her Divine
Motherhood, but also because God has willed her to have an exceptional
role in the work of our eternal salvation.
To represent Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of
Arabia, Fr. Stella (who later became the first Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait)
wanted to have a special statue made in her honour. An Italian firm in
Rome was requisitioned to make the statue, carved out of a solid block of
cedar from Lebanon. The Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, himself gave a grand
lead to this devotion to Our Lady of Arabia, when on 17th December 1949,
on the eve of the Great Jubilee Year, he personally blessed the new statue
of Our Lady of Arabia in the Vatican Palace. The same Pope proclaimed the
Queenship of Mary in 1954! This statue has been
prominently placed above the altar in the Church in Ahmadi. A smaller
statue of Our Lady of Arabia (again, blessed by Pope Pius X11 in 1954) is
placed above the side altar in the Holy Family Cathedral, Kuwait City.
In 1956, Bishop Teophano Stella, OCD, sent a petition
to the Holy See to proclaim Our Lady of Arabia, Patroness of the Vicariate
Apostolic of Kuwait. The following year, granting the request of the new
Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait, H.H. Pope Pius XII, by a pontifical decree Regnum
Mariae, dated 25th January, 1957, declared Our Lady of Arabia the
Principal Patron of the territory and the Vicariate Apostolic of
Kuwait.
However, no official date was set for a proper feast
day in honour of Our Lady of Arabia, so, in early 2007, His Lordship
Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCJ, the present Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait,
petitioned the Holy See to have a feast day established in honour of the
Blessed Virgin Mary under this title. His prayer and wish were fulfilled
this year 2011, when His Lordship Bishop Camillo received an official
intimation from the Vatican that his request has been granted.
On 5th January 2011, the Holy See officially proclaimed
Our Lady of Arabia Patroness of both the Vicariates in the Arabian
Peninsula: The Vicariate Apostolic of Kuwait and the Vicariate Apostolic
of Arabia. A Solemnity in her honour will henceforth be celebrated on
Saturday preceding the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time with the permission
to celebrate it also on Sunday. HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES
LLOVERA (Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments) arrived in Kuwait to personally inaugurate the special
occasion.
This is a time of manifold graces and blessings for all
- in the Vicariate Apostolic of Kuwait and the Vicariate Apostolic of
Arabia, as the loving patronage of Our Lady of Arabia extends to all
Catholics in the Arabian peninsula, and indeed the whole world, that, we
may renew the praises of Our heavenly Mother, and enkindle a more fervent
devotion towards her, to the spiritual benefit of all mankind. Few are
aware that devotion to Our Lady of Arabia actually began in 1948, on 8th
December - the day on which the Chapel in Ahmadi was dedicated in her
honour and that her statue in the shrine at Ahmadi was blessed in 1949 by
Pope Pius XII who later proclaimed the Queenship of Mary in 1954. In 1949
the Church of Our Lady of Arabia in Ahmadi was aggregated to the
Patriarchal Liberian Basilica (Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major) in Rome
and has been granted the same indulgences as for visiting this greatest
Marian Shrine in the world. Many will surely be enriched by indulgences
and privileges by a visit or a pilgrimage to the church in Ahmadi.
Pope Pius XII in his Encyclical AD CAELI REGINAM
proclaiming the Queenship of Mary said, "Whoever, therefore, reverences
the Queen of heaven and earth -- and let no one consider himself exempt
from this tribute of a grateful and loving soul -- let him invoke the most
effective of Queens, the Mediatrix of peace; let him respect and preserve
peace to which the Virgin Mary impels us, which is not wickedness
unpunished, nor freedom without restraint, but, a well-ordered harmony
under the rule of the will of God!"
We pray that Our Lady of Arabia may hear our prayers,
and by her peace make happy a world shaken by discord, and after our
earthly exile ... show unto us all Jesus, Who will be our eternal peace
and joy.
Our Blessed Mother will surely be honoured with more titles and
feasts
as time goes by, as her patronage extends, and love and
devotion to her increase in every part of the
world.
DECREE
FROM THE CONGREGATION OF DIVINE WORSHIP
~ 13th to 16th January 2011
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Inauguration of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Arabia
In the Four
Parishes of the Vicariate of Kuwait
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Main Celebrant and Concelebrants
at the four Parishes:
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HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES
LLOVERA
(Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments)
HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP
PETAR RAJIC
(Apostolic Nuncio to the Arabian Gulf
States)
HIS LORDSHIP BISHOP CAMILLO BALLIN, MCCJ
(Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait)
Monsignor Jorge
Quinonez
(Secretary to H.E. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares
Llovera)
Monsignor John Kallarackal
(First Secretary,
Apostolic Nunciature in Kuwait)
Fr. Mathews Francis, OCD
(Vicar General, Vicariate of Kuwait)
Holy Family Cathedral
Parish
Fr. Gaspar Fernandes, OFM Cap.(Parish Priest), Fr.
Youssef Fakhry,
Fr. Ben Barrameda, Fr. Angelos Masoud and Fr.
Adel Nasr.
Our Lady of Arabia Parish
Fr. Andrew
Francis, OFM Cap.(Parish Priest), Fr. John Harry D'Souza, OFM Cap
and Fr. Alfredo Guran Micua, OFM Cap.
St. Thérèse
Parish
Fr. Joseph (Joy) M, SDB (Acting Parish Priest), Fr.
Lionel Braganza, SDB and Fr. Francisco Pereira, SDB.
St.
Daniel Comboni Parish
Fr. Albert Saveriraj, OCD (Parish
Priest) and Fr. John Palatty, OCD
Assisting at all the
Eucharistic Celebrations
Deacon Sylvester D'
Souza
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Approved Texts of the Mass (Solemnity)
In Honour of Our
Lady of Arabia |
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13 JAN 2011: St. Daniel Comboni
Parish, Jleeb Al Shuyoukh
Our
newest parish was the first to celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of
Arabia. The Mass was well-attended by parishioners who were very happy and
eager to receive His Eminence Cardinal Llovera in their parish church
hall.
His Lordship Bishop Camillo
Ballin's Welcome Address at St. Daniel Comboni Parish
TO HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL
ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Your Eminence, Rev. Fathers and my dear People,
It is a matter of great joy for me to welcome His
Eminence Cardinal Canizares, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for
Divine Worship, to this parish here in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, dedicated to
St. Daniel Comboni. This parish was formally erected on 29th January,
2010. It is the realization of the dream which the migrant catholic
faithful living here in this town had been cherishing since a very long
time. They had to travel some 20 kilometers to reach the Holy Family
Cathedral in Kuwait City for their spiritual and pastoral needs. This is
the first parish His Eminence is visiting after his arrival in Kuwait
yesterday evening. Thousands of people live here under the special
protection of Our Lady of Arabia and St. Daniel Comboni, the Patron of
the Parish.
As Your Eminence can notice, this is not a very
suitable place of worship for so big a Community of faithful. We are
very much constrained by the lack of enough space. We are desperately
longing and praying for land to build a Church within the boundaries of
this town. In every parish of the Vicariate special weekly prayers are
held for this intention through the intercession of St. Daniel Comboni.
We hope that he himself will find a place for us in the near future.
We thank the most Holy Father for his intervention
and reference to the migrant Catholic faithful living in the Gulf, made
on the occasion of his meeting with the members of the diplomatic corps,
on the 10th of this month. We greatly appreciate his concern for the
religious freedom and availability of space and opportunity for worship
according to our faith. We request Your Eminence to convey our
gratitude to His Holiness for his kind gesture of solidarity.
Your Eminence, the entire Catholic community of this
parish highly esteem your kind visit and on their behalf I extend to you
a most cordial welcome to this Eucharistic assembly.
HOMILY OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Delivered in Spanish at St. Daniel Comboni Parish and St. Thérèse
Parish.
(Translated from the Original)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Full of joy, we celebrate in thanksgiving to God, the
approval of the proclamation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus
Christ, Only Son of God, and Mother of the Church, Our Mother, invoked
as “Our Lady of Arabia”, as Patroness of the people of Kuwait, Arabia
and the Gulf, so beloved by her.
We thank God because in His infinite mercy, in which
and by which He has given us Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour of
mankind. Through Jesus Christ man gains free access to divine sonship,
and to the eternal life; because through Him we gain access to the truth
that makes us free, because in Him we have the irrevocable and
definitive salvation that we are searching for, as we are in great need
of it and thirsty for it. He is the Saviour and his salvation is
universal. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He gives valour,
sense and consistency to reality; nothing can be separated from Him
without altering his truth. This truth, rejected by all the builders in
this world, has become the keystone on which we can build an entirely
new and real creation, resplendent with truth, love, peace and justice.
Christ knows and sees what is in man’s heart: Only He understands it and
therefore He is our hope.
Jesus Christ has revealed the mystery of the
indescribable God, who has been shown in Him as immeasurable Love, as a
Friend of men. And he has also revealed the mystery of what our own life
is, of what and who we are, and has introduced to history the
possibility of living human life in a new way, according to the original
design of God and to the deepest desires, that, in spite of sin, still
remains embedded in the heart of men.
This faith is proposed to all and it is not imposed
on anyone; it is always a proposition of grace and a salvation to the
freedom of men. This faith, which we have received as the greatest
heritage and the biggest treasure, is the only strength and the only
power, the only wealth of the church of all the times; also today. The
Church, because of her service and love to men, cannot let this wealth
die, cannot make it silent, cannot stop offering it, because then it
would be a betrayal to mankind itself to whom the Church is committed.
The absolute uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God made man, who descended from Heaven and by the power of the Holy
Spirit was incarnated in the womb of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, for
us men and for our salvation , entails his importance and his
universality to all generations, for “no people and no culture can
guiltily ignore him without dehumanizing itself: no period can consider
itself superior, even if the majority so estimate it; no man can
consciously separate himself from Him without losing himself as a man.”
“Christ is not a luxury, a facultative option or an
ornamental idea: his presence or his absence (that is, our acceptation
or refusal) has an effect in the depth of our being and determines our
fate. He is the Lord and claims a place in our thoughts, in our
decisions and in our life. Our intelligence cannot live without that
“memory”; our will cannot be governed without this “obedience”; our
humanity cannot be fully achieved if we do not aim at growing and
conforming to Him in this manner, that is, in communion. He is the Lord,
and cannot be separated from any dimension of our existence. He is the
Lord, but He does not impose on anyone, but seeks the freedom and
freewill of everyone. The joy of his existence in our lives defeats any
sadness. The eyes who have contemplated Him in faith cannot anymore look
at the world and history with hopelessness. The heart that is open to
Him, is open to the Universe and cannot shut itself again into its own
smallness. Because He exists, we are a saved people; because He exists,
we are a Church; because He exists, everything must be renewed; any
reflection on Christ must give rise to a new humanity in Christ.
This is our experience, this is our faith and our
joy, which since the first centuries have constituted the joy of the
Christian people, amidst difficult times and even in persecutions, and
which survives even in our times, offering a real and encouraging
future. This is our faith and our joy, that today, heirs of so many
saints and martyrs, of so many good Christians, witnesses of Jesus
Christ, we wish to share with all human beings.
May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, fondly invoked as
Our Lady Of Arabia and the Gulf, help us to follow Jesus, to remain
loyal to Him and firm in our faith, May she help us to follow our path,
never tiring, but, looking always at Him, who is the beginning and the
accomplishment of our Faith.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE OCCASION (Jleeb Al Shuyoukh
Parish)
14 JAN 2011: Our Lady of Arabia
Church, Ahmadi
As part of this solemn occasion, Our Lady of Arabia parish,
Ahmadi, celebrated its inaugural Titular Feast on Friday, 14th January
2011. A
nine-days novena to Our Lady of Arabia with Vespers on the last day,
preceded the feast.
The
Catholic Church of Our Lady of Arabia witnessed an historical moment when
His Eminence Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments who was
on a pastoral visit to Kuwait celebrated the Solemnity at 9.30 AM in the
church.
The Mass
was concelebrated by His Grace Archbishop Petar Rajic, Apostolic Nuncio to
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen & UAE and Apostolic Delegate in the
Arabian Peninsula and His Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCJ, Vicar
Apostolic of Kuwait.
Also
joining in the celebration were Msgr. John Kallarackal (First Secretary,
Apostolic Nunciature in Kuwait), Msgr. Jorge Quinonez (Secretary to His
Eminence Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera), Fr. Mathew Francis (Vicar
General of the Vicariate of Kuwait), Fr. Andrew Francis (Parish Priest of
Our Lady of Arabia Church), Fr. Albert Saveriraj(Parish Priest of St
Daniel Comboni Church), Fr. Joy Joseph (Acting Parish Priest, St. Therese
Parish, Salmiya) Fr Adel Nasr, Fr Alfredo Micua, Fr. John Harry D’Souza
and Fr. Lionel Braganza. Deacon Sylvester D'Souza from the Holy Family
Cathedral assisted at the Mass.
Among the
distinguished guests were Fr. Marcos of the Coptic Congregation, Sisters
of the Rosary Congregation and Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel
Congregation.
Devotion
to Our Lady of Arabia was vivified by the presence of the large number of
faithful that had come, even from the other parishes, to witness this
momentous and historical event. At the end of the Eucharistic Celebration,
there was a felicitation for the Cardinal, during which His Eminence also
released H.L. Bishop Camillo Ballin's book "Exploring Our Catholic Faith",
which is a series of Questions and Answers structured on the Catechism.
His Lordship Bishop Camillo
Ballin's Welcome Address at Our Lady of Arabia Parish
TO HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL
ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Your Eminence, Your Grace the Apostolic Nuncio, Rev.
Fathers and my dear People,
It is gives me immense pleasure to introduce and to
welcome His Eminence Cardinal Canizares, the Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation for Divine Worship to the Catholic Faithful gathered here
in this Church of Our Lady of Arabia, Ahmadi. This is the first Catholic
Church in Kuwait. In 1946, Carmelite missionaries from Basra in Iraq
started to make regular visits to Kuwait till they could get a temporary
space for a chapel in 1948. This present Church was built in 1956, by
the Kuwait Oil Company and even now it is maintained by them. The
members of this parish are working in the oil sector and in the nearby
medical institutions. We conduct regular weekly services in different
languages and rites.
Since more than 60 years, this Church remains as a
monument of our special devotion to Our Lady of Arabia and a witness to
her maternal care for the migrant people of Kuwait. We conduct regular
weekly Novena prayers in different languages and a good number of people
attend these devotions.
Your Eminence, your visit to this first Catholic
Church in Kuwait will make a lasting impression in the minds of the
people gathered here and in the history of this Church. The presence of
an enthusiastic crowd bears witness to the lively faith of our people.
No doubt, your presence will push up their faith still higher and
instill in them a deeper sense of unity in diversity.
We are very grateful to our Holy Father who makes us
feel his presence and solidarity with us through your visit. We thank,
His Holiness in a special way and Your Eminence for your kind gesture of
collaboration with us.
On behalf of all present here, I wholeheartedly
welcome Your Eminence to this Church of Our Lady of Arabia and to the
celebration of the Holy Eucharist with us.
HOMILY OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Delivered in Spanish at Our Lady of Arabia Parish and Holy Family
Cathedral Parish.
(Translated from the Original)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
We are celebrating the Solemnity of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Arabia and the Gulf - that the Church has
proclaimed as Patroness of these beloved people. We are celebrating this
feast full of joy, in the following days during which we Christians and
the whole world have recently lived the memory of the birthday of Jesus
Christ, which took place in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. With
our eyes fastened on Jesus Christ: hope and salvation to all men, and
with the motherly intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Church makes
every effort to follow His path towards a new era in its commitment to
mankind.
The Church in Kuwait, Arabia, the people of the Gulf,
as well as Virgin Mary in the greeting to her cousin Elizabeth, are
today full of joy for the deeply-rooted faith that has been encouraged
and cherished since the end of the first century that has been
transmitted from its ancestors until the present time, in spite of the
difficulties that we sometimes faced in history and in spite of the
complexities and the hardships of the present world.
The Christian community in this land is joyful in
this Marian Solemnity that it celebrates today because it contemplates
in Mother Mary embracing her child Jesus: God’s tenderness and closeness
that is all-consuming and has many consequences for man; for this reason
we invoke the Virgin as our intercessor, and for this reason we turn to
her as Helper of Christians, especially as Patroness and protector of
these people.
In this child – small and poor, helpless and
unprotected – who the Blessed Virgin is kissing and holds tenderly, we
contemplate a gentleness and closeness that is quite supernatural and
overwhelming. In this child born of Mary by the power of the Holy
Spirit, God comes to remain with us forever: nothing, actually, none can
separate God from us, neither separates us from Him. God does not want
to be separated from man or his vulnerability. Thus, He has irrevocably
committed Himself to man, to every single person on earth. He has
entered with the silence of the night in our neglect; he has entered
with that cry of the human being who arrives in the world. There He
looks for us and lovingly awaits us tirelessly. A greater closeness of
God to man is impossible. Nothing makes so present the depth, the width
and the height of the mystery of God like this quiet and helpless child
on the lap of his Very Blessed Mother. Neither the child nor the Mother
provoke fear; they provoke, on the contrary, love and kindness. In Him,
God shows us his will for peace: peace to all men that He loves. How can
we not then see all this in this Woman, Virgin and Mother, Mary, our
real and permanent Help? Or how can we stop approaching her to invoke
her protection for all men and her intervention that always helps us?
Our new covenant with God, began with the Saviour’s
birth in a humble stable in Bethlehem. Followed with simple faith and
fidelity, it gives new meaning to life, and in time, transforms the
heart of man, making it more open and Spirit-filled.
It is as if man begins to wake up: to be more aware
to the reality and the mystery of life, and he begins to understand
better the meaning of life and things. He acquires a sharpened
conscience towards the world he lives in, and he starts to grow in
freedom. Now he does not depend on chance or on circumstances, or on the
affection of others or the pursuit of power. Likewise, he starts to be
merciful, towards himself and towards all, and to love all things.
For this reason, today, with its original and genuine
connotations, it is a privilege for Christians in this land to thank God
for faith in Jesus Christ, endless “spring” of real humanization for our
world. We feel indeed blessed for the legacy that we have received and
at the same time we feel committed to intensely guard the rich patrimony
of Christian faith and culture that so extraordinarily has impregnated
the history of men. Our commitment may be characterized by the effort in
reconciling on one hand the loyalty to this rich heritage and on the
other hand offering to our society the values that we represent and
invite others to share and live, in respect of the rights that every
citizen has.
Today we want to thank God, that, despite the
weakness and sins of us Christians, He has remained loyal and he still
continues His work of saving mercy within us until today. Without any
kind of pride and feeling of triumph, but only in fidelity to the faith,
in order to thank God whole-heartedly, we remember also all those
saintly men and women, that over the centuries have been born or lived
in this land, and who have deeply loved their people and have sacrificed
their lives for them, announcing Jesus Christ, and helping their
brothers to live a more complete life, through educational work or many
times by the heroic exercise of charity and mercy. We also remember the
countless number of men and women, that, encouraged by the Christian
faith, have lived and are living a life full of truth and love in the
family and at work, in their daily life. It is they who are responsible
for the great witness that we find today.
With these men and women, with their work of every
kind, in the course of the centuries, the Catholic Church has made and,
with the grace of God and the motherly help of Mary, will continue
contributing great service to society in various fields. In general, the
Christian Church, and particularly these people, loyal to the heritage
of the faith they have received, loyal to the Lord, the living Son of
God, will never cease in their determination to help others in all those
areas where they need help.
I cannot end without mentioning in this Eucharistic
Celebration - this present world, the world of today threatened by
violence, injustice and hatred. We are at a time in history where in
many different ways the sacred dignity of the human being is forgotten
and degraded and the horizon looms ahead filled with uncertainty and a
threatened future. These threats and uncertainty will never find their
fulfilment - for in the Incarnation and the Birth of Jesus Christ of
the Virgin Mary, from his Cross and Resurrection- we are assured of the
victory of love against hate, truth against lie, peace against
injustice, service against arrogance, life against death and good
against bad.
The Church holds the hope that the world will really
change, with the grace of God, into a world where the noblest
aspirations of the human heart can be fulfilled; a world where real
peace will prevail, whose pillars are justice and that particular love
that is forgiveness, which is opposite to rancour and revenge, and not
to justice as it tends to the fullness of justice. This is the prayer
and hope of the Church. This is what we want to live today and always -
Christians here and everywhere, and what we implore of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Intercessor and Queen of Peace, fondly invoked as Our Lady
of Kuwait, of Arabia and the people of the Gulf.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE OCCASION (Ahmadi Parish)
Report by Mrs. Mary Sebastian, Parish Council
Member.
Photographs by Alban & others.
15 JAN 2011: St. Thérèse Church, Salmiya
The parishioners of St. Thérèse Parish attended in
great numbers to welcome the Cardinal and to witness the inauguration of
the great Solemnity of Our Lady of Arabia. (to be continued)
His
Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin's Welcome Address at St. Thérèse
Parish
TO
HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Your Eminence, Your Grace the Apostolic Nuncio, Rev.
Fathers and my dear People,
I am very glad to introduce and to welcome His
Eminence Cardinal Canizares, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for
Divine Worship to this Church of Salmiya Parish dedicated to St. Thérèse
of the Child Jesus. This Church was started in 1974, as a small chapel
for the weekly services in a rented building. In 2006, it was officially
declared a parish of the Vicariate of Kuwait under the patronage of St.
Thérèse of the Child Jesus. As you can see, we have the problem of
space here too. We have no land nor a building of our own for the
Church. The different communities and groups are accommodated for the
weekly services by a tight time schedule. For almost all the Masses, the
present Church is over crowded.
Like St. Thérèse, our Patroness, all of us are called
to bear witness to the love of God. In that sense we have a specific
mission to share God’s love not only among ourselves but with the people
of other faiths as well. Your Eminence, we are highly privileged to
have you in our midst for this Eucharistic celebration and are greatly
blessed by your visit to this parish of Salmiya. By celebrating the Holy
Mass in honor of Our Lady of Arabia, we are placed under the special
protection of our Blessed Mother. We are very grateful to your Eminence
for your precious presence and paternal solicitude for the migrant
people here in Kuwait. We depend very much on your valuable prayers and
pastoral support which will ever remain fresh in our thoughts. We
appreciate your readiness to spend many days with us and we feel much
encouraged by your kind visit. We look forward to many more visits of
this kind.
Your Eminence, on behalf of all present here, we
welcome you to this Eucharistic assembly and entreat your valuable
prayers for the spiritual and material well-being of all.
HOMILY OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL
ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Delivered in Spanish at St. Daniel Comboni
Parish and St. Thérèse Parish.
Click
here for the Homily
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE OCCASION (Salmiya Parish)
Photographs ny Winston Alphonso.
16 JAN 2011: Holy Family Cathedral, Kuwait
City
The Solemnity of Our Lady of Arabia reached its highest
point at the Eucharistic Celebration at the Holy Family Cathedral. Crowds
of people braved the cold weather to attend the very beautiful and solemn
occasion. Such was their devotion as they gathered around their beloved
Mother "Our Lady of Arabia".
The new image of Our Lady of Arabia above the side
Altar was blessed by His Eminence the Cardinal and His Lordship Bishop
Camillo Ballin. (to be continued)
His
Lordship Bishop Camillo Ballin's Welcome Address at the Holy Family
Cathedral
TO HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Your Eminence, Rev. Fathers and my dear People,
This is a unique moment and a memorable event in the
history of the Holy Family Cathedral. This evening we have with us His
Eminence, Cardinal Canizares, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for
Divine Worship. Since the last three days he has been with us in Kuwait
visiting the different parishes and celebrating the Eucharist for our
people. His visit and presence have as purpose to proclaim the Virgin
Mary, with the title of Our Lady of Arabia, Patroness of all the
Countries of the Gulf and to celebrate this solemnity for the first
time. It was due to his great generosity that we have now a special Mass
text approved by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Cult in honor of Our
Lady of Arabia, the Patroness of our Vicariate and now Patroness of both
the Vicariates in the Gulf. Our joy is doubled, as we have His Eminence
himself present with us to preside over this first Liturgical
celebration in honor of Our Lady of Arabia. This is a moment of
re-dedication of the entire Vicariate to her maternal care and
protection.
This Holy Family Cathedral is situated on the land
that was graciously allocated by His Highness the Amir and the
Government of Kuwait. We owe immense gratitude to the most respected
Rulers of this country for their generosity. On 16th March, 1961, this
Cathedral was blessed and consecrated. We celebrate here the liturgy in
five Rites and in twelve languages. Even here we have the limitation of
space. As you can see, many of our Faithful participate in this Service
standing outside the Church, in the adjacent courtyard because on many
occasions the Cathedral remains fully packed. Hence, we are pleading
with the authorities to get another piece of land, in addition to the
present one, for a Church. So far we have not received any response.
These limitations affect our ministry to the many communities who make
reasonable demands for space.
Your Eminence, we pray together with you to Our Lady
of Arabia so that our ministry towards the migrant people may produce
instant results. Our aim is to form one community and unity of all
Catholics, obedient to His Holiness the Pope and to the local Bishop.
Your Eminence, on behalf of all the Clergy and the
people gathered here, I whole-heartedly welcome you to this Eucharistic
assembly. I also make use of this opportunity to thank you for your kind
visit. It will remain as a memorable event in the history of the
Vicariate of Kuwait. Tomorrow you will be back in Rome. Kindly convey
our warm and filial affection to the Holy Father and request His
Holiness to pray for us and to bless us. Thank You.
HOMILY OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL
ANTONIO CAÑIZARES LLOVERA
Delivered in Spanish at at Our Lady of Arabia
Parish and Holy Family Cathedral Parish.
Click
here for the Homily
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE OCCASION (Cathedral Parish)
O Queen of Arabia, Glorious Queen of
Peace!
Grant us peace in our hearts, harmony in our families
and
concord throughout the world. Immaculate Mother, as Patroness of
the
Great Arabian Peninsula, watch over and protect all with your
motherly love.
Amen.
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