Circular 03/2026

February 01, 2026

My dear collaborators,

As we enter into a new month, our hearts are filled with immense gratitude to God for the innumerable blessings we have received from HIS hands during the last month. We need only to examine our lives and see how the Lord has blessed us; each day has been a gift of God to us and I am sure we have gone out of our way to render service to the people entrusted to our care. Your lives of simplicity, care and concern for your parishioners is something that our people will never forget, but will remember all through their lives. THANK YOU for being my wonderful collaborators. In return, I can only whisper a prayer for you so that the Lord Jesus may continue to inspire us to walk in HIS footsteps as we reach out to HIS people selflessly. THANK YOU also for the sacrifices you make to go out of your way to visit your parishioners. Visiting is the need of the hour and we need to visit our parishioners so that they do not go astray. Jesus visited HIS people and as HIS disciples, we too should make it a point to visit our parishioners, particularly the sick, the homebound, the poor and those who have lost hope in their lives so that our people may recognize the living Jesus in and through our priestly ministry.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life in the Church. Priests appointed to those parishes that have religious men and women are requested to have a Mass for our religious men and women and appreciate them for their presence in the parish. I know of many religious men and women who are ministering to the needs of the people in their parishes selflessly and joyfully. We need to take this opportunity and express our sentiments of joy and gratitude to our collaborators. I am confident you will do it. Just in case you cannot have a special Mass, you may do so on Sunday, February 08 so that the larger number of people who attend Mass on Sundays will also get an opportunity to express their sentiments of joy and gratitude to the religious men and women.

World Day of the sick is being celebrated on February 11. It will be a wonderful act of gesture from your side if you could organize a special Mass in your Church for the people who are sick: the elderly, distressed, those who cannot come to the Church for Sunday Mass because of their sickness and/or other reasons, etc. Just before Mass, you could listen to their confessions and absolve their sins. May I suggest that after Mass, you could serve them a cup of tea (please do not add sugar to the tea for the sake of those people having diabetes) and some biscuits. Small acts like these will most certainly go a long way for the people to remember your thoughtful gesture. "The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another's pain” is the theme of Pope Leo XIV's message for the 2026 commemoration of the World Day of the Sick to be held on 11 February. He noted that this image "is always relevant and essential for rediscovering the beauty of charity and the social dimension of compassion" and helps further "direct our attention towards the needy and all those who suffer, especially the sick." Download the full text of Pope Leo’s message on the occasion of The World Day of the Sick” below.

World Day of the Sick 2026.pdf

Download PDF • 115KB

We begin the Season of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday on February 18. Please ensure that all the Liturgical and para-liturgical services are held during the Season of Lent, especially the Stations of the Cross, Confessions and other such services. Please make an announcement to your parishioners inviting them to attend the services which are being organized in your parish in the Lenten Season. Please see to it that the children and youth, in particular, attend the liturgical and para-liturgical services in the Church during the Season of Lent. I am sure you will go out of your way to ensure that the Lenten Season, this year, becomes a truly spiritual experience to your parishioners.

May I bring to your kind attention that I have been repeatedly informing you to visit your parishioners in a systematic manner. Visiting is one of our means by which we will be able to identify who are the ones in our parish who are suffering: children, youth, adults, etc. You will agree with me that Jesus made it a point to visit HIS people, particularly the sick and the distressed. He healed them and brought immense joy into their lives. As followers and chosen disciples of the Lord Jesus, may we strive to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, our Lord and Master and visit our parishioners so that they too experience the joy of the Lord Jesus in their lives. As pilgrims of HOPE, it is our Christian responsibility to visit and we cannot make any compromises with regard to pastoral visitation. Visiting, I believe, is a real and concrete way in which we can bring the HOPE of Jesus to our people.

As I conclude these lines, I thank each of you for your presence in our Diocese. As mentioned to you earlier, you play an important role in the functioning of our Diocese. You are the silent men and women who are collaborating with me to take the Diocese onward and forward. May the Good Lord continue to accompany us and bless us always.

With every good wish,

✠Barthol Barretto

Bishop, Diocese of Nashik