Garden Colony, C/S-1
L. J. Road, 2nd X Lane
Mahim, Mumbai 400 016
Tel: 24452919
Bible Study Class – Roll No. 81
MY GOOD NEWS
I was born in Goa on 6th March 1931. I am the oldest of 9 children. My mother being the only child, we lived in our maternal grandparents’ house. My childhood was very happy. My parents were gentle, loving, caring but strict disciplinarians. Every evening after the Angelus we were taught Catechism and then we prayed the Family Rosary. Goa being a Portuguese Colony then, I studied Portuguese first and then English. After finishing my High School, I did my Teacher’s Training and taught for 4 years.
From early age my faith in God was strong and as I grew up I believed strongly in Divine Providence. At the age of 23 my parents arranged for my marriage. I was engaged to a young man named Joseph who was working for Bombay Port Trust. We received marriage instructions from a Priest as in those days there were no special courses and were married in 27th November 1954. After our marriage we lived at Wadala in the Office Quarters and I took up teaching at Auxilium Convent in Wadala. We were blessed with 4 daughters. During these years I experienced God’s presence very closely as I was with my children while they were in School (all 4 studied in Auxilium Convent) and was also with them during the holidays. In 1970 my husband suffered from a major heart attack. God saved him and he went back to work after 3 months. Here again, God reached out to us as we were living in office Quarters, the children were studying and we did not have enough money to buy a flat. We shifted to our own apartment in Mahim - one year before my husband retired. My husband and I shared in bringing up our 4 children. All 4 graduated in different fields, and are happily married. All this was possible only with God’s Blessings.
In 1992 (after my youngest daughter was married) my husband was diagnosed at Alzheimers & Parkinsons. He was treated by a neurologist but being a progressive disease, his health gradually deteriorated. For the first 4 years I took him daily for evening Mass and the last 2 years he was housebound. Fr. Tommy gave him Holy Communion every 1st Friday and Mrs. Hazeline D’Souza every Sunday. He had to be cared for like a child. In December 1998 he had a fall & hip bone fracture. He was hospitalized for 4 ½ months. He was operated then finally tube fed but he did not recover. He received the last sacrament and passed away on 23rd April 1999. During his illness and in particular when he was hospitalized, I came very close to God for all through he reached out to me by providing help at every step. Nothing is difficult when God is with us. To be healed of my sorrow & loneliness, I made a closed Retreat at Pota where I received my Inner Healing. Now I feel the presence of God every moment of my life and Praise & Thank God as I count all my Blessings and for making me a St. Michael’s Parishioner.
God bless and thank you dear Father Warner for conducting the Bible Classes. Imparting the Biblical Knowledge in your cheerful & humorous attitude will help us a lot to understand the `Word of God’.
sd/-
CFERNANDES
Dear Collette:
Brilliant!
Thank you for sharing the `extra half page’. Your assignment is indepthful.
You have taken trouble to write this assignment!
God Bless you
Father Warner
