We were very fortunate to be in the district of Tezpur in Assam in a parish named Dekhiajuli for the

Mission Exposure programme. It is an area with many Christians. It can be considered a Christian belt with
a thick population of Catholic believers. The parish itself had almost 3000 families spread far and wide. It
includes people from the Dekhiajuli town and the surrounding villages. The area of the parish is quite vast
and when I say surrounding villages it refers to the villages which are even farther than 20-25 kilometers.
Hence, it is practically impossible for the people of the villages that are far to come to the parish for
everyday Holy Mass and even on Sundays. The poor conditions of road and lack of appropriate means to go
the parish for the celebration of the Holy Mass facilitates to this. Although unable to go to parish every day,
it is mandatory to go to parish on important feasts and days of commemoration. Every village has their own
small churches which have their own services on Ordinary Sundays which includes reading from the
gospels, singing of psalms and preaching of the Word of God by the village head. It does not include the
Holy Mass.

The people living in this village are Adivasis, Bodo and Bengali. These Adivasis are divided into
different groups such as Munda, Oraon, Turi, and Kharia. They have their own dialect. They enjoy their life
working in the tea garden and cultivation. As we talked with the people, they shared that for them tea garden
and cultivation are the major source. In the village the people are involved in community participation. The
relationship between different group is so intimate. They have a rich oral folk tradition that has been
preserved.

This area suffers from a lack of stability in the families. Many young people go astray and fall into
drinking and gambling, many of them have even left their studies and spend their time doing nothing. Some
of the families are even shattered and broken. In many of the families the husbands are drunkards and beat
up their wife which directly has negative effect on their children. The clergy and religious of the area are
trying to bring about change of attitude among the people by providing children with good education. The
Popular Mission Retreat was aimed at the spiritual renewal of the Catholics there which is crucial in
bringing love and stability in the families. Since it covers a huge area and with a very few priests for every
family to be properly guided, conducting the Popular Mission Program is always helpful in showing the
people what kind of life does God want them to live. A life of dignity, happiness, communion among the
members of the society and the family and a life in relationship with Jesus.

The task of the brothers during the Popular Mission Retreat was to get the experience of the special
charism of our congregation, that is, the Family Renewal Retreat which is also known as Popular Mission
Retreat. It includes a five-day retreat for the people of the parish in their particular centers in the morning
and the evening. Our center had two priests and two brothers. The people are free during the day-time to do
their daily jobs. During the day time it is a time for visiting the families, listening to them and praying for
their intentions. Since there were almost 400 families in our center, each father and brother got 100 families
each. It was not an easy task for us because some roads in the interior part of the village were not good.
Along with it the houses were not close by, we had to travel (walking, in bike, in auto) far distances to reach
the families. We were accompanied by the village catechists who led us to the houses.

It was wonderful to see how people had cleaned their houses, prepared the altar, wrote the Word of
God, burned the candles and even washed our hands when we came to visit the houses. Our main function in
the house visit was praying for their intentions, listening to their worries and troubles and urge them to come
to the Retreat. By my visit to the families I came to know how the people are struggling to live their lives
and at least in some families, their problems are genuine and heartbreaking. I visited a family in were the
daughter of the family failed in the 10 th exams because she could not concentrate in her studies and when
asked the reason for that she answered that her mother had left them and eloped with other man. The mere
narration of the events brought tears in our eyes, no word of consolation could pacify the grief in her heart. It
is just the instance of a single family, there were various many other families with even more horrifying
stories. It was really humbling for me to see how people find happiness in such sad moments of life. I got to
know how lucky I am and my family for being able to live a better life than them. When I prayed for them I
felt pain in my heart and it was a genuine prayer that came out of my mouth. It was a moment to thank God
for what he has given us rather than complaining for what we do not have. Our mission exposure
programme also included preaching the Word of God which was a great firsthand experience of the charism
of our Congregation. A huge number of people gathered to listen to the word of the God and were definitely
healed. This itself indicates the positive effect that people were having in the retreat. The retreat included
different kinds of services such renewal of the baptismal vows, marriage vows, confession, blessing from the
Holy Cross etc. It was an eye opener for me to see how much in need are the people to hear the Word of
God. It is not just the Word of God they listen but also how much does the Word of God is needed to bring a
spiritual healing in their lives. The convictions and decisions that the people have taken to leave their old
ways and start living a new life in Christ even prompts me to think about my life; how much am I in a love
relationship with Jesus? And mend my ways.