Our Lady of Velankanni Festival 2024 (Sept 6 – 14, 2024), Our Lady of Refuge, San Jose, CA

"And Mary said, 'My soul glorifies the Lord.'" (Luke 1:46-55)

Many devotees of Our Lady of Velankanni, longing for her unconditional motherly love and smile with expression of fulness of grace and peace, came from far and near to honor and show their affection to our Heavenly Mother by being part of the Our Lady of Velankanni festival celebration at Our Lady of Refuge church in San Jose, CA, during Sept 6 – 14, 2024!

This year's celebration was a special devotional treat for all those who came to participate in the Feast Mass for Our Lady of Health, as there were 11 Priests and a Deacon celebrating the feast Mass! It was like a visual show of God sending His army of 12 disciples to honor and glorify His Mother, and the additional 5 Alter Servers made the Altar and sanctuary look spectacular!

Thanksgiving & Welcoming:

First, we humbly Thank our almighty God for blessing us with another year to celebrate His Mother and providing us with a spiritually fulfilling devotional experience!

We gratefully thank Pastor Fr. Roberto Gomez, Parochial Vicar Fr. Duong Nguyen, and all the staff in the Our Lady of Refuge parish and the Diocese of San Jose for their continued kind support in satisfying the spiritual and cultural needs of our Sacred Heart Tamil Catholic Group (SHTCG). Our community was very happy that Fr. Roberto Gomez could join to concelebrate in the feast Mass!

We are blessed to have Fr. Louis Lava as an in-charge and spiritual guide for our Tamil Catholic community, and we thank him wholeheartedly for guiding and leading the festival celebration and being the main celebrant in the feast Mass. Fr. Louis Lava is a Parochial Vicar in the St. John Vianney parish, so our special Thanks to Fr. Joe Kim, the Pastor of the St. John Vianney parish, for giving special consideration and all the help to our community by working through Fr. Louis, and also for joining other priests to concelebrate the feast Mass!

We wholeheartedly Thank all the priests and the deacon listed below for joyfully joining us to celebrate the feast Mass:

1. Fr. Louis Lava (Leveil) SJ Parochial Vicar, St. John Vianney parish, and in-charge of SHTCG
2. Fr. Roberto Gomez Pastor, Our lady of Refuge Parish
3. Fr. Joe Kim Pastor, St. John Vianney Panish
4. Fr. Marty Silva SJ Superior, Most Holy Trinity Parish
5. Fr. Roberto Rodriquez M.M Maryknoll Community
6. Fr. Robain Lomba Pastor, St. Cyprian Parish
7. Fr. Tony Famave Parochial Vicar, St. Martin of Tours Parish
8. Fr. Jeyaraj SJ Jesuit Community Berkeley
9. Fr. Arokiasamy SJ Jesuit Community Berkeley
10. Fr. Vincent Sekar Jesuit Community, Berkeley
11. Fr. Wilson SVD Mary Magdalene parish, Berkeley
12. Deacon Rahul St. John Vianney parish

Even though the Flag Hoisting was on a workday (Friday), very many came from far and near to participate in the ceremony and honor Our Lady of Health! We Thank the priests Fr. Louis, Fr. Arockiasamy, Fr. Wilson, Fr. Jamels and Fr. Vincent Sekhar, and the brothers (from 'De la Salle') Br. Mark and Br. Anthonydoss, for joyfully joining to bless and lead the Flag-Hoisting ceremony.

Our special Thanks to Fr. Arockiasamy Xavier SJ (feast Mass) and Fr. Wilson (Flag-Hoisting Mass) for giving us very appealing sermons that were simple to understand and were spiritually most appropriate for the occasion relating to Mother Mary! Fr. Arockiasamy enlightened us on how Mother Mary is the source of our joy, so we should learn to be similar by being the source of joy for others around us. Fr. Wilson beautifully explained how Mother Mary's silence helped her to follow God's direction obediently in various situations in her life, and we should do similar way in our life so we can hear God's voice and direction clearly and follow His path.

From the bottom of our hearts, we gratefully Thank our dedicated community leaders, organizers, selfless volunteers, and generous donors. They are the heart and soul of our community and crucial players in making this celebration a huge success!

Again, we thank Fr. Louis for writing a detailed thank-you note that meticulously covered all the contributions to making this celebration a great success! Please find Fr. Louis's thank-you details here.

Finally, we thank all the devotees of Our Lady of Health from different ethnic backgrounds for coming over to celebrate with us as a single family and experience the blessed devotional time with our Holy Mother! We continue to welcome you and your families and friends to come and celebrate with us every year. We also welcome you to all the spiritual and cultural events organized by SHTCG, including the weekly Tamil Mass every Saturday!

The Celebration (from September 6 – 14, 2024):

Flag-hoisting (September 6, 2024):

Preparation for the Flag-Hoisting started on the previous day (September 5, 2024), and our skillful decoration team created a beautiful platform on the left side of the sanctuary in the Our Lady of Refuge church and placed the adorable Arockia Madha statue there!

On the evening of the inaugural day (September 6, 2024), all devotees and priests assembled at Our Lady of Refuge church first and then processed outside along the main driveway to the back side of the church (facing Lucretia Ave). The procession was led by the Altar Servers and accompanied by the priests Fr. Louis, Fr. Arockiasamy, Fr. Wilson, Fr. Jamels, and Fr. Vincent Sekhar, and the brothers (from 'De la Salle') Br. Mark and Br. Anthonydoss. After reciting the first Novena and blessing the flag by the priests, the brothers Br. Mark and Br. Anthonydoss raised the Velenkanni Madha's flag. Once the Flag-Hoisting ceremony is complete, all present there processed back into the church to partake in the Tamil Holy Mass, celebrated by Fr. Arockiasamy SJ jointly with concelebrants Fr. Wilson SVD, Fr. Jamels, and Fr. Vincent Sekhar. Once the Holy Mass came to a conclusion, the three blessed small Madha statues were taken by the three families to be presented for viewing in their homes during the next Novena remotely. The inaugural day concluded with the delicious potluck dinner and fellowship.

Novena from 2nd Day through 8th Day (September 7 – 13, 2024):

The 2nd day of Novena was done at Our Lady of Refuge church just before the regular Saturday Tamil Mass.

From the 3rd day through the 8th day of the festival, many families from our community & friends enthusiastically participated in the Novena remotely. Each of these days, the three Madha statues continued visiting three new homes. The Madha statues at the visiting homes were decorated and displayed for viewing for all who participated in the Novena.

The Feast Day (September 14, 2024):

The dedicated volunteers gathered in the previous day's evening (September 13, 2024). They worked until late night to assemble the career and attach Our Lady of Velankanni statue to the center platform of the carrier. By early afternoon on the feast day, the decoration team finished decorating the carrier and the Madha statue in it, and it looked adorable!

The feast Mass started with the final day's Novena and was followed by the Holy Mass, which Fr. Louis celebrated jointly with ten other concelebrants and a Deacon (see the Thanksgiving section above for the names of all the priests and the deacon).

Below are some highlights from the feast Mass:

- Many children from our community led the Entrance Procession, springling the flowers along the way. The 5 Altar servers, 11 priests and a deacon processed behind these children.
- Once the Entrance Procession reached near the sanctuary, the priests lined up across left to right just outside the sanctuary facing the Altar, and three girls performed Arathi to the priests. Then, the priests Fr. Roberto Gomez, Fr. Louis Lava, and Fr. Joe Kim performed Arathi to the congregation in the church.
- During offertory time, many children and adults lined-up in the middle aisle to offer gifts.
- During Eucharist time, 9 children lined-up across from left to right just outside the sanctuary facing the Altar performed Arathi with candles, perfumes, and flowers.
- Towards the end of the Mass, Fr. Louis expressed thanks to all the contributors who helped to make the celebration of the Velankanni Madha festival a great success! During this time, the community members honored the priests with garlands and ponnadai.
- As usual, our high-caliber Choir team, with their excellent music and singing, elevated the devotional experience for all those participating in the feast Mass.

Once the feast Mass concluded, all proceeded outside the church to participate in the candle-light procession with Our Lady of Velankanni statue in the career. After the initial prayer by Fr. Louis and the blessing of the Mother Mary's Statue in the carrier, the procession started with many men carrying the carrier with the Our Lady of Velankanni statue. The Altar servers and umbrella holders led the procession, followed by the prayer & singing groups, devotees, and priests. The procession started from the front of the church, went around the parking lot, and finally reached the front of the church. One special mention is that Fr. Roberto Rodriguez also joined the men to carry the Velankanni Madha's carrier, and his Marian affection was so touching that he continued to carry it till the end without taking any rest even though it is hard to do due to heaviness of the carrier!

The procession was concluded with a final prayer by Fr. Louis Lava. After the procession, many proceeded to the outside back side of the church, where Fr. Wilson lowered the Our Lady of Velankanni flag to indicate that the festival had ended. The delicious dinner was served near the church hall, and the community members and the priests had an opportunity to fellowship with each other. Once everyone, with their family and friends, had an opportunity to take pictures with Velankanni Madha in the career, our tireless volunteers proceeded to disassemble the carrier, clean the place, and move things back to storage.

We Thank God for all His Blessings in completing this festival very successfully, and we pray for His continued blessings so that we can be instrumental in glorifying Him and His Mother.

We look forward to another year of grand celebration for Our Lady of Velankannni in 2025!

Sincerely In Christ,

Sundar