Deo Gratias!

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

September 3rd is a day of great importance for the priestly society of St Pius X. And this year in Palayamkottai our joy was twice as strong. The Reparation Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary shifted their residence from Tuticorin, where they have lived for the past eight years, to Palayamkottai. A house was rented for them near the priory thanks to the indefatigable zeal of Fr Karl Stehlin, their ecclesiastical superior and our own district superior. Father Stehlin offered Solemn High Mass at the priory. Immediately after the Mass, we all went to the new convent for the house blessing. Fr Stehlin insisted very much on the significance of this blessing. As the Blessed Sacrament will also be kept in the house, Fr Stehlin drew from this the beautiful lesson that we also are the ‘living house of God’. The Reparation Sisters were truly elated and they hosted a sumptuous breakfast for the visitors.

But why this move? The Reparation Sisters will answer in one word: The Mass! In the past the Sisters could only attend Mass twice a week, as a society priest had to travel to Tuticorin to say mass for them. But how could any religious live with that? Just as we could not live if the sun rose only twice a week, we cannot live with only two Masses! And so they chose to leave their familiar and well-loved surroundings to be close to the source of their sanctification. It is truly admirable and a blessing for the priory to have nuns attending everyday Mass, and on Sundays we now have two congregations of nuns present to glorify God Almighty.

Is it not true what our beloved founder had said:

“There I saw, yes I saw, what the grace of the Holy Mass could do. I saw it in the holy souls of some of our Catechists. I saw it in those pagan souls, transformed by the grace of baptism, transformed by assistance at Holy Mass, and by the Holy Eucharist. These souls understood the mystery of the Sacrifice of the Cross and united themselves to Our Lord Jesus Christ in the sufferings of His Cross, offering their sacrifices and their sufferings with Our Lord Jesus Christ, and living as Christians (1).”

If anyone still wants to see this wonder, well, come to Palayamkottai!

Let me thank our respected superiors, and our dear friends and benefactors of this Indian mission. Please be assured of our prayers for your intentions.

May God bless you.

In Christo,

Fr Therasian Xavier

Click here to view pictures from September 3rd.

(1) http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Jubilee-Sermon-of…