Service to honour fathers

The De Lanerolle Brothers

Melanie Bibile

With the ringing of the Angelus bell at 6 p.m., today, the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 will usher in Father's day service. The Cathedral Choir, OKTAVE, The Congregation Choir, Melanie Bibile, The De Lanerolle Brothers and Neranjan de Silva will be providing the special music for the occasion, while Rev. Roshan Mendis will deliver a special Father's Day message.

We are what we are because of our parents. Wouldn't it be a good idea then to take some time off to reflect on the blessings of a father, and pray for them? Quite often we take our parents for granted. We don't like the rules and regulations they impose on us. Sometimes, what they do for us and the sacrifices they make for us go unnoticed and unappreciated. Should we think about both the negatives and positives, show appreciation for the positives, and look at the negatives positively? Should we analyse why there are negatives and then see if we can change them to positives?

Last month, time was allocated to reflect on our Mothers. It was an overwhelming response from a 700+ congregation at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour in Colombo. It was emotional when people lit candles in the memory of their mothers. The universal language of music helped bring together and bind denominations and religions with significant participation from Buddhists, Moslems and Hindus as well.