The parish priest of Warispura wanted to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary with three days of Marian devotion. During his Sunday homily, Fr Yousaf George recalled the figure of Mary, unique in history, and her presence in the contemporary world.
Faisalabad (AsiaNews) The feast of the Holy Rosary marked across Pakistan on 7 October is "a source to abolish hate and violence and to bring love and peace to our world".
With these words, Fr Yousaf George started the celebration of mass on the second of three days of Marian prayers in Warispura parish of Faisalabad diocese, attended by thousands of Catholics. The function was presided over by the bishop of the diocese, Mgr Joseph Coutts.
The theme of the three days of prayer was "Our Lady the icon of peace". The aim of the event was to make people more aware about the importance of the rosary. These days of "particular devotion" were the initiative of Fr Pascal Paulus, parish priest of Warispura, who opened the parish to pray the rosary daily in the missionary month of October.
On October 6, the first day of the feast, Catholics gathered for a procession that closed with the recital of the Marian prayer in the streets of Faisalabad.
During the Sunday homily, Fr Yousaf said: "This feast serves to thank the Lord, and the rosary is a privileged way to keep believers in contact with Jesus and to progress in their pilgrimage of faith."
He continued: "The figure of Mary is unique in history. She takes us to the redeemer and Jesus never refused his mother anything. The Gospel tells us Jesus did his first miracle at the request of Mary."
Our Lady "is still active in world and her presence continues to be revealed. She appeared in Lourdes where she said the rosary and prayer were fundamental tools. We should appeal to her and ask that the violence gripping the world may stop."
On the last day of the Marian feast, the faithful met at 6am for a special Eucharistic celebration and in the afternoon, they participated in a competition of religious songs. In the evening, sisters and young students performed the mysteries of the rosary in a small local theatre.