5724(II)_Chronicles of ADMA Aspirants group in Jakarta
Jakarta, Indonesia, 8 November 2021 -- It has been nine months since our first ADMA session on 25 February. Each week with the Rosary Prayer helps us internalize deeply the importance of love and togetherness in our devotion to Mother Mary. During October, we dedicated time to bringing us ever closer to Her. Our activities in October included:
• Gathering to Pray the Rosary every Saturday of the month, and during October our Rosary prayer was 3 times a week
• On 16 October, we were honored to have in our Rosary session Mr. Antuvan David Samikkan, ASC World Councilor for the South Asia Region and Ms. Maria Junifer (ADMA FIN). We appreciate the time they spent with us in Rosary prayer.
• On October 20, Fr. Andrew Wong led for us a recollection, with confessions and Mass
• Visitation to nine (9) Mother Mary chapels-shrines in Jakarta. During the Pandemic, the challenge was in coordinating with different parishes to allow group visitations, given that each Parish has their respective Health & Safety protocols. And yet, it was in this struggle that we began to feel a greater sense of togetherness. Our members were relentless in their mission to pray. And so when four Parishes abruptly cancelled our appointment, with open hearts we went in search for other Parishes that might be open for our Rosary prayer.
Our search led us to churches farther away from our homes, with St. Gabriel Parish as the farthest parish that we eagerly visited to devote our prayers to Mary. With the blessing of Mary, we were able to come to an agreement with nine parishes that allowed visitations to each Parish’s Chapel or Marian Church. Our hearts were burdened once more however, upon receiving news that two of our members couldn’t join. One because her husband had suddenly fallen ill, and another had to return to her village far away from Jakarta for a family emergency. And though we felt the absence of our members, especially because we were a small group, it gave us more reasons to pray to Mary, in hopes that She will give our members the strength they need to face the ordeals they were facing.
We felt the prayer in each Marian Chapel or Parish like a Homecoming…
On 30 October, we began our journey to visit nine Marian Churches and devote our prayers of the Holy Rosary. We were amazed at the reception we received by each parish, and the extent they went to to be prepared to welcome our little group and make us feel at home. It didn’t take us long to realize that because of the pandemic, not many people were coming to pray in Marian Chapels or Churches. Here in Jakarta, parishes were re-opened only recently, and we were touched to be able to pray in Marian sanctuaries once more. Praying in each Sanctuary felt like we were coming home. The silence and tranquility in each Marian Church made it all the more peaceful when we were praying the Rosary. Due to time constraints, we were finally able to only visit 8 out of 9 Marian Churches and Chapels, while 7 Parish Priests were kind enough to give us blessings and prayers before we left.
Rosary for everybody
Coming to each of our homes, we were tired from a full day’s visiting the chapels of Our Lady. But that didn’t stop us from praying the Rosary once more in our own homes online. We were joined by our ADMA friends from Timor Leste in their Portuguese and Tetum languages. Our hearts were filled with joy as we’re also joined by 4-year-old Hannah, one of our Aspirant’s Granddaughters, who saw her Grandmother praying the rosary and wanted to join in.
As conclusion…
As always, we feel our faith in Jesus Christ and Mary Help of Christians grows with each gathering, prayer, and other ADMA activities. We praise Him for guiding us through our plan to visit and pray in Marian Chapels in last few days. We hope that our faith, devotion to Mother Mary, and sense of togetherness in our Jakarta group of ADMA grow as time goes on. And we look forward to plan more activities together for the coming Christmas season.
ADMA Aspirants from Jakarta end their sharing: "If you are interested in joining our Rosary (online), feel free to reach out to us. We are more than happy to have you with us."
