Oman is an open country and people of various faith and religion live here. I personally, am a Hindu by birth but being born and brought up in a secular country India, I have had a very liberal and secular approach to religion. So as it is Easters coming and the holy week going on, going to the church for a visit and to pray was a good idea, to see around as well as to get blessed.
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| Board showing direction to the church at Ghala |
So, last Sunday, which happened to be Palm Sunday, I went out with a friend of mine to Ghala Church. The Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Muscat is located in Ghala, just opposite of the American School. There is one more church in Ruwi as well but Ghala seemed to be more convenient. Last Sunday evening, when I went for the mass, the church was really crowded. Probably because it was Palm Sunday. People from various nationalities were present, where mostly were Indians. After the mass ended at around 8.50pm, the church and the chapel was a little less crowded and I finally got a chance to sit down and have some time with god.
Today afternoon, some friends of mine called me up to go to the church again so as it was Good Friday, I thought of joining them. It was my friends from work, who were Filipinos mostly, with an Indian and an Albanian accompanying us. The mass at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church was supposed to begin in 2.10pm so we caught a taxi and drove to Ghala.
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| Inside the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Ghala, Muscat, Oman. |
Every second Friday, the Holy Spirit Catholic Church has mass in Tagalog, a Filipino langauge and since it was a second Friday today, it was a Filipino mass. As most of my friends were Filipinos, there were glad. For me, Tagalog wasn't a language in which I am well versed with and my knowledge about the language is only limited to few words and greetings. So, as we entered the church, the crowd were all Filipinos and I personally didn't feel secluded as I am used to being around with Filipinos and being Asian, mostly everyone thinks even I am one of them. The church wasn't so crowded like last Sunday, which was Palm Sunday but yes, the church was full. We got our seats and went ahead with the mass. The prayers and mass were in Tagalog but again I believe faith has no language so I sat there during the mass, praying and praising lord.
After a session for an hour, the mass was over. It was really good to be in a holy place after so long, especially twice this week. I am really glad that I am living in Oman now where there are no boundaries for what faith you practice or where you're from and everyone is respected and treated equally.
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