AUXILIUM DUM DUM: It is a joy to share our experience on the renewal course held for the sisters of the group ‘early adulthood’. It was held in Auxilium Convent, Dum Dum, Kolkata from 19th to 21st August 2016. The resource persons were Sr. Rose Ezarath, Provincial, Fr. Sajiv S.J. and Sr. Teresa Adampakallel the vice provincial.
On 19th afternoon at 02.30 pm 27 Young sisters belonging to the stage of early adulthood of the Province in a prayerful motion with flowers in our hands stepped towards the icon of our Blessed Mother to receive her blessings. Sister Teresa Adampakallel then welcomed the participants amorously with her affectionate words and it was followed by a sweet Swagatam song.
Provincial Sr. Rose Ezarath then gave the introductory session on the developmental tasks of the early adulthood making us reflect on the related Articles of the Constitution and GC XIII. In order to make us understand more she presented 13 tips from the Plan of formation. Among them she stressed the most in the words of the mother general who says: “Seek first God. Do not become slave of nature or persons. Let nothing or no one prevent you from doing good.”
The next session was taken over by Sr. Teresa Adampakallel. She made us pause and reflect on the beauty of our Religious Life and what gives meaning to our life: Christ, faith life and love. She gave us a few questions to reflect and share about our community life, religious life and mission experiences in the groups. Then it was shared in the general assembly.
The second day was animated by Fr. Sajiv S. J. He stressed on the behavior pattern of human beings. As he spoke to us he said: ‘Through fundamental choices the person has established for herself/himself a particular way of living, thinking and acting. As adult men/women, in the fullness of their physical, psychological and spiritual resources, they now become better aware of the possibilities for growth and involvement in the society’. It is an opportune time to effect personal integration in the light of the Spirit, a time to allow faith and charismatic values to penetrate to the depths of their being, to the point of reaching a gradual interior and exterior harmony. For our harmonious living we communicate to each other. He explained to us the various kinds of the communications. Non Violent communication is Learning the Language of giving and receiving. It is our natural language; it speaks of our common human needs and what would make life more wonderful for us. Unfortunately, it is not this language most of us learned. For thousands of years we have been speaking a language that actually makes it difficult for people to give and receive joyfully. It is a language that meets only some needs and that contribute to a tremendous amount of pain in the world. In order to live peacefully with others on this earth we need to learn the language of Giving and receiving. With this language, destructive, life-alienating metaphorical Jackal language can be translated into life serving, Giraffe Language: messages that contribute to meet our needs as well as those of others. The language of giving and receiving has many names including: Non-Violent communication, Compassionate communication, and the language of Heart. He trained us by bringing four practical strategies with many examples namely: Observations, feelings, needs and requests.
On 21st morning soon after the breakfast, a pilgrimage to Mother Teresa’s was on the schedule. All the participants along with Sr. Provincial and Vice Provincial boarded the bus in spite of an inclement weather. It was an anticipatory visit to Mother Teresa’s Tomb in preparation for her imminent canonization. Each one of us enjoyed praying to this great saint of Calcutta, visiting her room, museum and the big chapel where she prayed all through her life in Calcutta. Next spot of our pilgrimage was to Bhawanipur cemetery where late Sr. Rose Simon was laid to rest three days ago. The drizzling atmosphere joined our tearful eyes in paying homage to our dear Sr. Rose Simon who has been once with us hitherto. Now that she has been called back to Heaven we believe that she enjoys the fulfillment of the promises of the Lord to His Faithful ones. It was indeed most realistic and deeply felt part of our renewal session which spoke loud through the fading wreaths of beautiful flowers, the half burnt candles, the burnt out incense sticks adorning the tomb of our dear Sr. Rose Simon to whom we too bid our silent farewell after the personal prayers and common rosary for her real life with the Lord in Heaven.
The second day was animated by Fr. Sajiv S. J. He stressed on the behavior pattern of human beings. As he spoke to us he said: ‘Through fundamental choices the person has established for herself/himself a particular way of living, thinking and acting. As adult men/women, in the fullness of their physical, psychological and spiritual resources, they now become better aware of the possibilities for growth and involvement in the society’. It is an opportune time to effect personal integration in the light of the Spirit, a time to allow faith and charismatic values to penetrate to the depths of their being, to the point of reaching a gradual interior and exterior harmony. For our harmonious living we communicate to each other. He explained to us the various kinds of the communications. Non Violent communication is Learning the Language of giving and receiving. It is our natural language; it speaks of our common human needs and what would make life more wonderful for us. Unfortunately, it is not this language most of us learned. For thousands of years we have been speaking a language that actually makes it difficult for people to give and receive joyfully. It is a language that meets only some needs and that contribute to a tremendous amount of pain in the world. In order to live peacefully with others on this earth we need to learn the language of Giving and receiving. With this language, destructive, life-alienating metaphorical Jackal language can be translated into life serving, Giraffe Language: messages that contribute to meet our needs as well as those of others. The language of giving and receiving has many names including: Non-Violent communication, Compassionate communication, and the language of Heart. He trained us by bringing four practical strategies with many examples namely: Observations, feelings, needs and requests.
On 21st morning soon after the breakfast, a pilgrimage to Mother Teresa’s was on the schedule. All the participants along with Sr. Provincial and Vice Provincial boarded the bus in spite of an inclement weather. It was an anticipatory visit to Mother Teresa’s Tomb in preparation for her imminent canonization. Each one of us enjoyed praying to this great saint of Calcutta, visiting her room, museum and the big chapel where she prayed all through her life in Calcutta. Next spot of our pilgrimage was to Bhawanipur cemetery where late Sr. Rose Simon was laid to rest three days ago. The drizzling atmosphere joined our tearful eyes in paying homage to our dear Sr. Rose Simon who has been once with us hitherto. Now that she has been called back to Heaven we believe that she enjoys the fulfillment of the promises of the Lord to His Faithful ones. It was indeed most realistic and deeply felt part of our renewal session which spoke loud through the fading wreaths of beautiful flowers, the half burnt candles, the burnt out incense sticks adorning the tomb of our dear Sr. Rose Simon to whom we too bid our silent farewell after the personal prayers and common rosary for her real life with the Lord in Heaven.
We were back to our venue for the afternoon session sharp at 02.00 pm. In drawing up our convictions we had vivid impressions of our late Sr. Rose Simon who seemed to be telling us “we have but one life to live, live it well for the love of Jesus alone. Nothing else matters in our life after”. The valedictory moments expressed also our gratitude to all those who made this renewal course, a wonderful experience: Provincial Sr.Rose Ezarath, Sr.Teresa Adampakallel and the community of Dum Dum including the domestic staff. With songs of thanksgiving to the Lord, carrying a load of determination to make our life worth living for the Lord and His people, we left for our destinations in the later hours of the day.
Common convictionsSr.Inocencia Jojo FMA
Every sector presented their report in a very creative manner. One could feel the zeal and interest of each sector with which the animation was carried out. Before moving on to the preparation of the Province Project we were briefed on the Strenna 2017:We are a family! Every home , a school of life and love. Keeping in mind the Triennial Verification with the presence of Mother General in our midst detailed programme of the yearly events were choked out to facilitate the animation of all the sectors. The meeting came to an end with the expression of thanks from the General Coordinator. In a very special way the outgoing general Coordinator Sr. Mini Mary Chettayil was thanked for her precision, innovativeness, self sacrifice and for keeping us abreast with the signs of the times.
Reported by Sr. Rosalia Tirkey
Formation Sector