Marian Academy: Mary and the Way

The Marian Academy began exactly at 1930 hours last evening, and ended at around 2140 hours - a solid 2 hours and 10 minutes.

There were 16 items in all! Some of you might be interested in the list:
1. “Gentle Woman”: Band Piece: Divyadaan (4 m.).
2. Prayer Dance: Maria Vihar (4 m.)
3. Welcome speech and felicitation: Fr Nelson Falcao, Parish Priest
4. “The Assumption of Our Lady”: Skit: Nirmala Home (8 m.)
5. “How Can This Be?” Skit: STI (10 m.)
6. Medley: Zone A (7 m.)
7. “A Celebration of Life at Divyadaan”: audio-visuals and dance presentation: Divyadaan (23 m.)
8. “O Ma Mariam”: Song: Satpur Youth
9. “Immaculate Heart of Mary”: Song: Zone B (Sean and Sanjay) (3 m.)
10. “My Queen works miracles”: Incidents from the life of Bl. Maria Romero, FMA: SHTC (9 m.)
11. Instrumental music: Bosco Monsorate and Fr Nelson (8 m.)
12. “Mother Dearest Mother Fairest”: Hymn: Zone C (4 m.)
13. “Maria Shat Shat Namah.” Song and dance: Nirmala Convent
14. “The Lamp of the Madonna”: skit: Catechism children
15. “I Love Him”: Song by Don Bosco Youth (5 m.)
16. Thanks: Fr Ivo Coelho

Our youth did a marvellous job, assisted by Bro Johnson Bhuriya and Ms Sushma Srivastava. Annette Thomas was the compere for the occasion, Jackson and Philbert managed the stage curtain beautifully, and all pitched in to put up the backdrop, clean the stage, and manage the backstage - besides practising for their item, the very lively "I Love Him," from Sister Act II.

Being Vianney Sunday, Fr Nelson also took the occasion to offer flowers to all the priests who help in our parish, as well as to some of our long standing lay leaders: Mr Robin Susainathan, Mr Rocky D'Silva, and Mr Agnelo D'Souza.

The Divyadaan brothers put up 4 dances - Goan mando, Gujarati garba, a North-Eastern Garo dance, and a Tamil war dance and the pot dance. Though the item was very long - 23 full minutes if I am not mistaken! - the people enjoyed the dances immensely. We were given a glimpse of the multi-cultural community that is Divyadaan.

The senior citizens of Nirmala Home also put up a creative skit, enacting the scene of the Assumption of Our Lady as described in the visions of Maria Valtorta. The energy and enthusiasm of our seniors is amazing!

It was wonderful to see also all the Zones of the parish putting up well-prepared and rehearsed items. Zone A made a splash of blue! And then there was the Satpur youth group on stage after a long absence.

The STI novices staged an imaginative 'vocation story' item modelled on the call of Our Lady, full of grace, with the father of the boy asking 'how can this be?' I wonder who wrote the skit. Very creative.

The SHTC novices staged two scenes from the life of Bl. Maria Romero, FMA, great devotee of Our Lady.

The catechism children's item was in crisis after the main actor, Linus, decided to opt out the day of the rehearsal. It seems one of the sisters trained Charles Kevin Anthony, but did not communicate that to anyone. I happened to meet Charles on the playground just before Sunday School, and he fought with me: Father, you have cancelled our item. I said, Charles, I don't even know you have an item. But the enthusiasm of the young boy just could not be ignored, and so the item was rescheduled. They did a good job, our children! Though I still can't remember what exactly the skit was about.

The theme of the Academy was Mary Knows the Way, Shows the Way. And the Way is, of course, Jesus.