Blessings of Batim

Our Lady came to Fatima with an urgent call for prayer and penance, for consecration and devotion of the Five First Saturdays to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to save souls from going to hell and for peace in the world.

At Ganxim (better known as Batim), thousands of rosaries and other forms of prayer like the Stations of the Cross, Holy Masses and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament are being offered every First Saturday by the pilgrims ever since the 1st of October 1994. One can imagine therefore the contribution of the pilgrims towards saving souls and bringing peace especially to Goa.

Goa is exceptionally privileged to have the gift of Ganxim, where Our Lady is bestowing her blessings, spiritual graces and physical cures! Many extra-ordinary miracles have been published in the Batim News and Views. To mention just two:

Case I - A three-month-old Hindu boy, Neil Harmalkar; suffering from Pyogenic Meningitis was lying critically ill in the ICU, at the GMC Hospital, when the nurse in attendance, Mrs A Vaz, thought of telling his father about the happenings at Batim and the miraculous water of the Batim well, and suggested that the child be given some. The father having readily agreed, the nurse took the permission of the doctor in-charge and put a few drops in the child’s mouth and asked the father of the child to pour some water on its forehead. The moment the water touched the child’s forehead; the child opened his eyes and was on the way to recovery. He is now 5 years old, sound and healthy, without any defect. (Condensed from Batim News and Views dated 2/11/2001)

Case 2 - Mr Neville D’Souza from Fatorda was suffering from chronic kidney problem for 16 years. His condition had deteriorated to such an extent that his doctor in Nadiad in Gujarat advised him to have a kidney transplant and the operation was scheduled in July 2006. Meanwhile, he and his family members were praying hard and were attending the Five First Saturdays at Batim. His condition had started improving gradually. When he went back to Nadiad, for his last check-up before the operation, the doctor was so amazed that his condition was so good that he did not need to have the kidney transplant. (Condensed from Batim News and Views dated 2/9/2006)

BBC TV Telecast : Strangely but providentially the BBC TV team was in Goa, and in Ganxim on the first of the three mammoth gatherings on the 13th of October, the 13th of November, and the 13th of December 1996. A vast crowd of around 15000 had filled the grounds of SS Simon and Jude Church and was spilling down the hill of Ganxim.

At the centre of the scene was Iveta in a crucified posture on the ground undergoing briefly the suffering and death of Our Lord, watched by a well known Goan priest from close quarters, and by several nuns and the crowd around.

The BBC TV televised the scene worldwide on the same day. For this reason, Batim attracts pilgrims from all over the world.

Any Country, Diocese or Parish should be proud to have been gifted with such supernatural events as the Apparitions of Our Lady, and be grateful for the fruits already produced.

Ganxim deserves a better deal by way of better appreciation and better amenities from the Church and the civil authorities. The Moral of the Main Story: God appreciates the Faith of the simple and the humble better than the lofty theories of the learned and the sophisticated.

The Navhind Times, Panorama
Sunday March 11, 2007

Posted By : The Navhind Times, Goa Newspaper on 12/03/2007