ST. FRANCIS FEAST.

If you think positive…….

                The sound becomes music,

                The movements becomes dance,

                The smile becomes laughter,

                The mind becomes meditation and

                The life becomes celebration….. sure

It’s always spring time for those who love God and that’s the reason there’s a fragrant wave pervading everywhere and the rays of the gladness penetrating every nook and corner of this house. Yes, dear friends, there’s a throbbing joy and vibrating love enveloping our hearts, as we celebrate the feast of “ A MESSENGER OF GOD’S LOVE, The Patron of Ecology,” namely St. Francis of Assisi. We warmly welcome each one of you dear Rev. Fathers, brothers, sisters and my dear friends, to this Solemn Eucharistic celebration.

Today is a grace filled day for all the Franciscans all over the world, as we commemorate and celebrate the feast of our Father Francis. It’s a day of love. It’s a day of togetherness. It’s a day to rejoice and a day to give thanks to God for the blessings and graces. We have received through our patron St. Francis.

Francis was born in 1182 at Assisi in Italy as a son of a wealthy merchant. His wealth and love of life made him leader of Assisi’s youth but once he understood his call, he turned his heart and mind completely to God. It is from the crucifix that Francis received his life’s mandate. His soul melted at the sight of Jesus on the cross and the memory of Christ’s passion was imprinted in the depth of his heart. No human could ever describe the passionate love with which Francis “burnt for Christ” his spouse. He used to say, “Greatly to be loved, is His love, who loved us so greatly.” Francis was so inflamed with love for the Holy Eucharist that he often says to his brothers, “Eucharist is the moment where in, we can see, touch and taste God’s Love.”

For Francis, consecrated life is a Life of love and Relationship. It is a relationship with God. A Relationship with human beings and a Relationship with the Nature.

We believe that only Love has the capacity to create and recreate, to unite and to re-unite the entire creation of God and Francis had done it through his love of Christ, revealed in the creation. Yes dear friends..

The virtue of HUMILITY was his hallmark,

Poverty was his way of life

Simplicity was his rule of life,

Love of God and Love of neighbour was his Spirituality

Obedience was his Guardian

Hospitality was his innate quality

Moments of prayer and contemplation was his only nourishment….

This is how he distinguished himself from others and brought impact on the lives of many, throughout the world.

Today the mother Church rejoices because it received SECOND CHRIST in the person of St. Francis.

Today the entire creation is in the mood of jubilation because it received a SON who loved them and called them as his Mother, Brother and Sister.

Today we the Franciscans are in a mood of celebration because we have received in Francis….

A Father who guide us,

A Patron who intercede for us,

A model who inspire us,

A Leader who lead us,

A Brother who edifies us… and

A Companion who walks with us and through us.

Yes dear friends, he is our patron, St. Francis of Assisi and we are proud to trade the path shown by him as Franciscans and today we pray that we all may become messengers of God’s love and compassion to the people whom we serve.

Today we thank God for each of you dear fathers, brothers and sister, who have come to join us in our celebration and we ask you to pray for the entire Franciscan Order, especially for us CFMSS. For our Institute, our Mother General, all our Provincials and their Councillors and each member of our institute that each of us may grow and work in our Franciscan family, spreading the fragrance of love, peace and joy wherever we are. Praying for these intentions let us partake in this Eucharistic Celebration.

A Love Letter from God…

My Very own Precious…….

I want you to be mine always. I want you to accept my unconditional love for you. It was I who brought you out of nothing so that I could give you life and love.

            Out of countless sperms and ova

            I chose you,

            Not because you are better,

            But because I want you to share my joy.

I want you be an original,

Not a copy of someone else, but a unique picture of me.

I want you to see how precious you are to me,

That I have richly blessed you,

That you grow more appreciative each day

In loving me and yourself and others.

I want you in my human family

To love all the other originals I have created…

In easing the loneliness of your brothers and sisters.

I want you to love others as I love them…

As they are…

Not as you would like and expect them to be,

Not as they should be….

But with all their limitations and defects.

I want you to forgive those who may have hurt you,

And continue to be unkind towards you,

To forgive them as I forgive you.

I want you to reach out to your brothers and sisters,

To have many Holy Hours with them…

To cheer up, to encourage, to sympathize, to console.

I want you to know that my son Jesus understands the pain you suffer

He knows, how hard it is to grow in love and freedom.

So wait patiently with Him and be patient with others

 And accept the pain of growing in love.

I want you to know that I sent my only Divine Son

To be like you in all things except sin…

To live and die for you,

To take your guilt upon Himself,

So that you can stand before me forever guiltless.

I want you to have courage in facing trials and difficulties.

There will be many if you want to be my disciple,

But be of good cheer for I have overcome my enemies

And you too will.

I will be with you always at all times and places,

You don’t have to look for me or call out for me,

For I am there in the inner-most recesses of your heart.

My work continues-I go loving you forever.

You too go on sharing my love with your brothers and sisters

You too go on sharing my love with your brothers and sisters

In all the ways you can and make them aware that they too

Are precious sons and daughters of mine.

I want you and them to call me as my son Jesus taught you to call me

Abba- Papa and to do my will in your lives and be happy.

Remaining your own very loving..............ABBA

article on Consecrated vowed life- a sign of contradiction

VOWED LIFE:

 A Sign of Contradiction amidst the Decadence o Values.

Introduction

Consecrated Life is rooted in Baptism and fully expresses the Christian vocation to follow Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit. It calls for a total commitment to the way of Christ, to the Evangelical counsels of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience and the Gospel Values.  Consecrated Life demands of the one who called the gift of self in a total and undivided manner; a gift of one’s whole being in response to Christ’s total gift of self. The gift of consecrated life is a call to affirm the primacy of God in the lives of consecrated persons and to continue discovering “the beauty and freshness of the person of Jesus” and the centrality of Christ and His message as the foundational element of one’s dedicated life. It also demands a passionate love affair with the Lord and His Kingdom.

By the vows of Consecrated Celibacy, Evangelical Poverty and Prophetic Obedience the religious create an alternate world, which on the basis of the Gospel prophetically challenges the power of the Prince of this World. This alternate world is not a place or even a group of people. It is primarily a certain way of understanding, organizing and operating within and upon the basic coordinates of all human life; material good , power and sexuality. Each vow gives a specific response to the great temptations of time; the lust of flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The three vows touch the human persons at the level of the three essential spheres of one’s existence and relationships; affectivity, possession and power. Through the profession of Evangelical Counsels made in the Church, the religious wishes to be set free from the hindrances that hold back her from loving God whole heartedly.

By the VOW OF CHASTITY the Religious dedicates herself to God with an undivided heart. This single minded love and devotion helped her to control her sexual impulses and to be open to others without any thought of domination and exclusiveness. This vow is stark contrast to what the world holds as indispensable. The world is living today in an era of carnality which glorifies sex, hates restraint, identifies purity with coldness, innocence with ignorance and turns men and women into sex objects.

On the other hand, a woman who takes the vow of Chastity does so, not to escape the sacrifices that marriage demands, but to detach herself from all the ties of the flesh in order to be free for greater Service. As St. Paul puts it; “He that is with a life is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided. He that is without a wife solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God.”

          Society today has made sex another consumer item, portraying sexual indulgences as one of the necessities of life. The precise offering inherent in the Vow of Chastity is the offering of the body, will and mind in regard to the self gift of the sexual faculties. By this vow we renounce the intimate and faithful companionship of a beloved. For example; sharing of “secrets” of intimate presence, promises, consolation, etc. we place in the heart of Christ our need for such attention, concern and gratification. The vow of Chastity is a real holocaust of body and soul. It is willingly chosen for God’s sake and joyfully lived as a continuous breaking of one’s body in love for Him. It is choice of undivided love of Christ and dedication to His person. It is a profound and supernatural love that does not absorb, or suppresses other loves but integrates them, enables them, enriches them, conserves them, perfects them and illuminates them.(1Cor 13:4-7). It is an imitation of Christ who renounced physical, sexual gratification or its intimate expression; He renounced the companionship of a “Special” woman. This too is our choice. (Mt 8:20, Mk 3:21, 31-35).

God and the soul of the religious have the sane relation, spirituality that a man and woman have when they are married, where no other creature may share certain aspects of this sacred ground. One is free to love and serve not just another man or woman but everyone in the bonds of charity in Christ Jesus our Lord. Marriage releases the flesh from its individual selfishness for the service of the family; the vow of Chastity releases the flesh not only from the narrow and circumscribed family but also for the service of that family which embraces all humanity. Thus a Religious belongs to not one family but to all.

          The Vow of Chastity is not something negative; it is not just an unopened bud; it is not something cold; it is not selfishness born of love and the highest love of all. It is what Francis Thompson calls a “passionless passion and wild tranquility.” Chastity is the virtue which enables the soul to breathe purest air even in the foulest of places. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see”- see even God. (Mt 5)

          Life in Poverty proclaims that God is one’s only real treasure. The word “poverty” is foreign to the spirit of the world as its primary concern is to acquire, to own, to posses; its aristocracy is not one of blood or virtue but of money; it judges one’s worth not by righteousness in terms of possessions.

Our Blessed Lord came into the world to destroy this acquisitiveness and this subservience of moral order to economic ends by preaching the Blessedness of the poor in spirit. He not only preached but lived it, right from the crib to the cross to conquer the three kinds of pride; Economic pride, that is the pride of what one has, Social Pride, that is the pride of what one is and Intellectual Pride that the pride of what one knows.

          Christ became economically poor, to counteract the unlimited pursuit of wealth as the noblest end of man and the glorifying in what one has. He chose his mother from the poor classes. He who owned the earth and the fullness thereof chose for his birthplace a deserted shepherd’s cave.

“The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have their nets; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”(Mat 8:20). Bethlehem refused him an inn; Nazareth drove him from its gates and Jerusalem stoned Him. In His death he was stripped off His garments-the last remnant of earthly possessions, He was executed on a cross erected at public expense and buried in a stranger’s grave. He who was rich became poor for our sake that we might be rich. Our life in poverty is in imitation of Christ who was poor in birth, poorer life, poorest of all in death. Contrary to the values of the world, poverty prevents us from being enslaved by our personal needs, desires, interests and pursuits.

For Francis the basic element in poverty was not so much the absence of possessions but rather the freedom from any obstacle to opening our hearts to welcome Him who gave Himself to us.

          By our life in poverty, we give up not only all that we possess but also our pride and our cravings for power, position, possession, prestige, pleasure, privileges and praise. We joyfully place our time, talents, energy, potentials and our whole being at the service of God’s people. We undertake a painful journey from complete self-sufficiency to utter dependence on God, as we tread the self-emptying path of Christ in our life of poverty.

          “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His holiness and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt6:33). Since we have chosen God for our portion, we are under His special care or providence. For us to seek God’s Kingdom and His holiness, means to live our vocation as we ought. Yet it is precisely this abandonment to Divine Providence that frees us from being smothered by our egoism and allows us to live according to God’s plan.

          Poverty of spirit is therefore a progressive renunciation of any claim to ownership of possessions and qualities. This self-renunciation leaves us naked before God with no though of relying on what we are or what we have. We see clearly that whatever qualities or riches we possess are free gifts from God. So joyfully and willingly we renounce the right to freely use and dispose of material goods. Our claim to be poor is accompanied by our clear choice of leaving aside everything unnecessary as St. Paul says, “I consider everything else as rubbish in the pursuit of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

                A luminous, joyful and austere life of the Gospel values throws into stark relief the futility of unbridled lust for economic and social power as a basis for self realization. The rampant capitalism which is driven forward by the profit motive even at the cost of crushing in it’s the path, the dignity and life of many countries, is now permeating every social relationship, threatening to produce a morality that serves to justify selfish pleasure seeking. In such a world being poor means accepting the challenge that God alone is our wealth and our only treasure.

Life in Obedience.

          Obedience in its true sense means to listen carefully/ pay attention(Ob-audire)- to give an ear to the Spirit of God moving and working in my life; to listen so that I might know what God’s will is for my life, in my life.

          Our Life in Obedience is a “Response of Love” to the One who loves us. The Root Paradigm for our life in obedience is Christ, who came to do His Father’s will and becoming obedient unto death wrought our salvation. He stated clearly the reason for His coming. “Lo I have cone to do Thy will O God” (Heb 10:7). Carrying out the Father’s plan was his purpose “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me” (Jn 4:34). Our life in obedience is an imitation of the obedience of Christ. By our profession of obedience we offer the complete surrender of our will as a sacrifice to God. We daily try to be attentive to the Holy Spirit, discern God’s will here and now and put it into practice in our daily life. The vow of obedience helps us to live in the “Marian Role” of saying “Yes” to the will of God in every event of our life.

          Obedience is a vow about listening to the intimate voice of God, who truly commands our obedience. To seek God’s will is to make the most loving choices and decisions at any given moment. Obedience is not merely when asked for, or required absolutely, or when the authorities are present, or when it is pleasant. It is a life time business; it demands a constant sacrifice of our ego and the annihilation of self.

          Obedience is the key to God’s heart (Heb 10:5). It is a dying of self and allowing one’s heart be wounded so as to accept in full the Father’s will; not to bend God to my will but to bend my own sweet will to God and saying “Yes”. More than anything else our will belongs to Christ. Therefore every time we make use of our will for ourselves, we are taking it away from its rightful owner. Jesus shared the same will with the Father, yet it caused Him to sweat blood to obey the Father’s will. Like Christ a religious should be able to say, “I always do what is pleasing to Him.”(Jn 8:29).

          Religious Obedience is not merely the submission of one’s will to another’s will; through obedience we submit to the mysteriously hidden wisdom of God, working through His weak instruments, sometimes reminding us that, “My ways are not your ways.” The members who renounce joyfully their family, the privilege of having children and possessions are drawn for a greater purpose and live together as a supernatural family. While living together in fraternal harmony we are better able to discern and carry out God’s will, encouraging each other to follow the path of obedience to the Father. When we choose to live the Gospel life in fraternity, we renounce the luxury of deciding thongs for ourselves.

          Our free will is an indelible gift of God. In surrendering our will to God through the superiors, we are renouncing the instinct to follow our self-will and to arrange our own lives. The innate desire to rule our lives makes obedience hard. The universal desire for self-fulfillment must be accepted as given by God, yet our ultimate fulfillment lies in fulfilling God’s will and this involves our personal vocation, His plan for the use of our talents and for our happiness. The purpose of life is not that our talents be used to the full, or that our drives be satisfied. Our personal drives and talents can be a means to explore what God’s plan might be. The talented need discipline and their success both as persons and apostles is best guaranteed by obedience. The restless human spirit always seeks something better, even a mistaken better; it is brought to peace by obedience.

          Obedience becomes a response to duty, rather than to a person whom we love. It implies readiness for pain, fatigue, incompleteness, even on a physical level. The temptation to put oneself above the law while appealing to something higher can have foundations other than love. The words of the apostles, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29), cannot justifiably used as general concept to nullify laws or commands that we do not like or do not agree with. Yet human fulfillment cannot be considered authentic unless it includes close union with God. Living on the margins of the community, or minimal participation are not a legitimate choice but a violation of vowed obedience. It includes that sometimes onerous task of working our differences with other members and leaders. At all times it will demand genuine self-abnegation for the sake of the common good.Vowed life is a working together, in season and out of season, when convenient and inconvenient, when one’s ideas prevail and when they do not.

Conclusion.

          In our vowed life we offer ourselves as fragrant victims to our Celestial Spouse and make an irrevocable solemn sacrifice of oyr whole being to Him with the Triple vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience. As spouses of Christ we should live for God, with God, in God and in Jesus our only good. These three vows are the nails with which we are fixed to the Cross along with the Crucified Jesus, who help us to live our vowed life in joy and peace.

          Religious Life, a discipleship of equals united in mutual service could become the alternative political world which would announce to the power-structure of this world the possibility of a truly non-hierarchical community of sisters united around the Risen Lord. Human nature is indeed deformed towards violence by the influence of the evil one. Even in Jesus’ life time He had to intervene in the power dynamics among his disciples, jockeying for prestige and power over each other and trying to control the relation of others to Him. The politics of domination has always been the ways of the world but it must be different among us who are called together by One who washed your feet (Jn 13: 1-15), and who refused recourse to power even to save His own life. (Mt 26: 53).

          May the thought: I am a person consecrated to God (1Pet 2:9). I am a part of the body of Christ (1Cor 6: 16), I am the temple of the Holy Trinity (1Cor ^:19), and chosen as Royal priesthood (1Pet 2:9) help us to live a faithful and fruitful vowed life! May we take care of our life in prayer and God will take care of our life in Chastity, Poverty and Obedience.

my psalm of 151- a thanksgiving psalm

My Psalm 151- Thanksgiving Psalm

The hope in me was almost nil

The beats of my heart were very still

In my life I have lost a lot

There was no way to move ahead.

                I searched for love and peace

                Someone to set my heart in peace

                Someone to hold me tight and

                To say that I am there to support you

I searched for someone

To share my sorrows

To shake me and cheer me

And console me in my trouble.

                I thank you lord for your arms that held me tight

                When my soul was in the darkest night

                For in you now my life starts and begins

                And in you my life will end.

You have taught me to walk and speak

You have given me knowledge and wisdom through my teachers

You have put the seed of vocation to follow you

You have helped through them to be what I am today.

                You cared for me in my school days

I have been a bud yet to bloom – but

You have cheered me up to bloom on this earth

Accept my heart-felt thanks.

You have been kind and merciful to me

You have been with me in my joys and sorrows

You turned my sorrows into joy and

You died on the cross to save me.

                You have protected me from all dangers and evil clutches

You have kept me as the apple of your eye

You have been with me as my faithful friend

And guide me all through my life.

You have called me here

And guide in each steps that I take

Mould me to be better instrument- and

 I know you will be with me forever.

              I shall sing and praise you, dear lord- for

Of you my life is more wonderful

I will proclaim your wonders among people

For you have saved my life.

I don’t know how to thank you more than this

There is no words in my heart- but 

I say again and again thank you

O God of my life and my only good forever.

From……………..

Sr. Elizabeth Rani( 2002-2005)

commity a gift and blessing to me

MY COMMUNITY IS A GIFT AND BLESSING WHICH CALLS FOR AN ACT OF    THANKSGIVING”

“Fraternal life is the foundation of a religious community. It is a kind of martyrdom, but precisely an inner one. This ordeal of abnegation should bring about our sanctification. Oh, the beauty of community life! No one has explained you so well, nor has anyone tried to make me fall in love with you as I am today! You will be my delight, the focus of my study, my treasure.”(Mother Seraphina).

FRATERNAL LIFE- An Introduction

·        The love of Christ, through the centuries, has gathered a great number of disciples to become one, so that, like him, in the Spirit, they might, throughout the centuries, be able to respond to the love of the Father, loving him "with all their hearts, with all their soul, with all their might" (cf. Deut. 6:5) and loving their neighbours "as themselves" (cf. Mt. 22:39).

·        Among these disciples, those gathered together in religious communities, women and men "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev. 7:9), have been and still are a particularly eloquent expression of this sublime and boundless love.

·        Born not "of the will of the flesh", nor from personal attraction, nor from human motives, but "from God" (Jn. 1:13), from a divine vocation and a divine attraction, religious communities are a living sign of the primacy of the love of God who works wonders, and of the love for God and for one's brothers and sisters as manifested and practised by Jesus Christ.

·        Therefore Religious community-a gift of the Holy Spirit, is rooted in the very heart of the Holy Trinity. For the communion of love that binds the three persons of the Triune God is the model and source of the fraternal communion that unite the members of a community with one another.

CONSECRATION FOR COMMUNION…

Religious life is essentially a call to live community life. It is the essence and core of religious life. Consecrated persons are not “called” to an individual or personal vocation. Their call is also a “con-vocation”_ (i.e.)

-      They are called along with others..

-      They are called to live with others..

-      They are called to live with whom they share their daily life…

-      They are called to live in communion with others

Therefore there is a convergence of “Yeses” to God which unites a number of religious into one single community of life.

We are             -    Consecrated together…

-      United in the same “Yes”…

-      Unified by the same Spirit…

-      To discover together the person of Christ…

-      In and through the Fraternity.

·         It must always be remembered that, for religious men and women, fulfilment comes through their communities. One who tries to live an independent life, detached from community, has surely not taken the secure path to the perfection of his or her own state.

·         Before being a human construction, religious community is a gift of the Spirit. It is the love of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, from which religious community takes its origin and is built as a true family gathered together in the Lord's name.

·        It is therefore impossible to understand religious community unless we start from its being a gift from on high, from its being a mystery, from its being rooted in the very heart of the blessed and sanctifying Trinity, who wills it as part of the mystery of the Church, for the life of the world.

A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY IN COMMON…… IS A GIFT AND A BLESSING…

Community life is a precious gift and a gracious blessing, and a profound act of thanksgiving

·        As gift, it indicates that it is something ‘given’ and not acquired or one’s own making. It is something precious and so to be valued and appreciated for its worth.

·        As gift of God, it also means that it is something given in love. It becomes the expression and occasion of God’s own love. In living such a love-gift of God, we are living, experiencing, witnessing and promoting God’s own love.

·        As gift of God, it also implies that it calls us for deep gratitude. Living community life becomes an act and ambience of living our gratitude to God.

·        Community life as gift also implies that it is something profoundly positive, because no one gives a bad gift, and all the more, our good and loving God cannot give us any gift which is not beautiful and beneficial.

·        That community life is a gift also means that we must cherish it lovingly and gratefully, and preserve it carefully and diligently. We must constantly keep it safe and intact, guarding it against all the possible stains and blemishes. We cannot afford to get it spoiled or damaged or lose the value of it.

·        That community life is a gift also means that it is something not to be kept simply idle or disused. It must be lived in its fullness. It is not something which can be treated indifferently without attention or concern. It is a ‘vibrant’ gift which calls for action, enthusiasm and commitment.

·        As gift of love, community life also implies that it is lived joyfully. The difficulties and the challenges that surround community life should not take away or reduce the joy of community life, which is its breath and essence

·        It’s a gift because here, the power of the Holy Spirit at work in one individual passes at the same time to all. Here not only does each enjoy his own gift, but makes it abound by sharing it with others; and each one enjoys the fruits of other’s gift as if they were his own.

·        As a blessing, community life implies that it something sacred and divine. It is not merely a human arrangement or making, for the sake of some convenience or profit or external advantage. It is, Born not "of the will of the flesh", nor from personal attraction, nor from human motives, but "from God" (Jn. 1:13), from a divine vocation and a divine attraction.

·        There should always be this sense of sacred and holy toward community and community life. It should be esteemed and treated with respect and reverence, with the deep awareness of its dignity and nobility.

·        As blessing, community life also implies that it should always carry and transmit that aspect of divinity and holiness. Those who live community life should feel, experience, nurture and relish the dignity of it. Those who watch those in community life, should also be able to see and get touched by this sense of the sacred. They should receive the blessings of such community life.

·        As blessing, community life brings to all – those who live it as well as those are served by it, the divine gifts of illumination, guidance, comfort and strength.

·        As a profound act of thanksgiving, community life becomes a constant concrete expression of joy, satisfaction and fulfilment. It is because, no one will give thanks to something which is not worth or which is not good and beneficial.

·        Community life as thanksgiving also implies that the community members are deeply positive-hearted and optimistic. Only such persons will see always the bright side of life and its situations, can appreciate and affirm the human persons.

Thus, community life as gift, blessing and act of thanksgiving strongly appeals to the members to make their life as well as themselves really a gift, a blessing and an act of thanksgiving.

THE PRESENT CONTEXT OF THE COMMUNITY LIFE.

• We are truly living in a context where individualism is on rise,
• Where intolerance and hatred are surging up on every side,

·        Where community life is losing its charm and credibility,

·        Where community life is losing its positive face and appreciation,

·        Where community life is considered a forced burden,

·        Where community life is becoming a strained task,

·        Where community life is drained of its essential joy,

·        Where resentment is growing toward community life,

·        Where community life is not enjoyed but just tolerated,

·        Where community life is declining in its quality,

·        Where community life seems to become shallow, a farce,

·        Where community life is looked upon with suspicion as a hindrance or a brake on the personal initiative and excellence,

·        Where fidelity to community life is becoming a no-botheration,

·        Where community-confrontations seem to be routine – phenomena

·        Where communities become rather locus of counter-witness and negative example,

·        Where community life is also regarded as one main reason for the departures from vocation

·        Therefore, the focus on community life becomes urgent and exigent.

THE REASONS “WHY” OUR COMMUNITY IS A BLESSING……

Just think of those communities (real or imaginary) and their manner of living and functioning:

·        There are  communities where consecrated men and women are Living together under the same roof, but leaving each other aloof

·        Sharing from the same table, but not caring to nourish each other

·        Living together, but not loving each other

·        Coming together, but not going together

·        Eating together, but not treating each other

·        Expecting together, but not respecting each other

·        Standing together, but not understanding each other

·        Earning together, but not learning each other,

·        Seeing together, but not being together, not seeing each other

·        Studying together, but not studying and remedying each other

·        Knowing together, but not knowing each other, not growing together

·        Looking together, but not looking at and looking into each other

·        Working together, but not walking together, not working for each other

·        Believing together, but not believing each other

·        Receiving together, but not giving to each other

·        Feeling together, but not feeling for each other

·        Dealing together, but not healing each other

·        Driving together, but not striving for each other

·        Celebrating together, but not celebrating each other

·        Staying together, but not praying together

·        Praying together, but preying each other

·        Dying together, but not crying for each other

·        But I am thankful to God because our communities are not like the above.

MY COMMYNITY IS A GIFT AND A BLESSING BECAUSE….

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who support me when I am down,

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who love and accept me as I am…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters whom I can count on to, at all times…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who energise me when I am wearied and tired…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who care for me as her own…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters  who guide me in the path of God

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who sooth my pain

·        There’s always someone among my sisters, who strengthens my wavering hands and trembling limbs…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who makes it sure that I take my meals at correct time…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who make it sure that I feel their presence around me, not leaving me alone…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who make it a point to make me smile and bring a sunshine of hope on my face, even when my days are clouded with pain and doubts…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who sit beside me day in and day out, when I am sick in the hospital or at home…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who care about my biological family as their own…

·        There’s always someone among sisters who feel my pain even when I am silent!!!!!!

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who stand beside me to face the world ahead of me!!!!!

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who lift me up when fall to the ground…

·        There’s always someone among my sisters who make it a point to teach me the things that I don’t know even without counting the cost of their comfort and time…

·        There’re always my sisters who pray for me in times of joy and in times of pain…

·        There’re always my sisters, who encourages me to give my best…

·        There’re always my sisters who provide me with my necessities…

·        There’re always my sisters, who are ready to walk my steps…

·        There’re always my sisters who willingly and happily carry my burdens…

·        IS NOT OUR COMMUNITY A BLESSING DEAR SISTERS??????

·        IT’S INDEED A BLESSING TO US..

·        It’s a Super Natural family, where we cherish the gift of our vocation and the vocation of our sisters.

·        It’s indeed a place where we feel welcomed, accepted, wanted, motivated, encouraged and understood…

·        It’s a place where people are of  one heart and one soul; working together, joyfully living in fraternal union, in  the spirit of mutual love, pardon, reconciliation, availability and service, in close relationship with God and with the community members.

·        It’s a place where members are service –minded, tender-hearted, other-centered, loyal in relationships, genuine and open…

·        It’s a place where we learn to be gentle and humble in spirit, helping one another to grow in holiness…

·        It’s a place of unity in diversity, in genuine love, fraternal correction, dialogue, cordiality, loyalty, sharing the responsibility, extending moral support to each other, sharing each other’s joys and sorrows; being a balm to the sick and sad…

·        It’s indeed a place where the humanity meet the Divine.

·        We have not toiled for it but we have received it, as a gift from God our creator.

·        Even if we go for searching, we won’t find a better place than our present community..

·        God wills it for us, to be here and now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

·        It’s a gift so rare and a blessing so dear. I am always thankful to the Lord for the gift of my community.

·        Let’s therefore be thankful for the gift of our community.

·        Whether we are aware or not, we receive the blessings in and through our community and…

·        Our IDENTITY as consecrated persons comes through our community.

CONCLUSION

Religious Community is a God-enlightened space in which we experience the hidden presence of the Risen Lord. This comes about through the mutual love of all the members of the community, a love nourished by the word and by the Eucharist, purified in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and sustained by prayer for unity, the special gift of the Spirit to those who obediently listen to the Gospel.

Our communities are “Schola Amoris," a School of Love, where we learn to love God, to love the brothers and sisters with whom we live, and to love humanity, which is in great need of God's mercy and of fraternal solidarity.

Our communities are a “Tabernacles of Communion”, where we learn to accept the gift and the diversity of each individual, to forgive each other, to be able to work together and to share. Therefore … dear sisters,

Positively, our Fraternal Communities implies –That our communities are built on and guided by fraternal principles of unity, respect, benevolence, appreciation, sisterly love, mutual concern, and support.

That we love to live in communities because they are loving communities.

That we nurture a deep sense of belonging to the community,

That we enjoy the diversity caliber among us that adds beauty to the community

That we are loyal to safeguard the dignity and image of the community,

That we are committed to the good and happiness of the community, and

That each of us strive to be a blessing and an asset to his own community and to each of us.

We are a blessing and gift to the community and community is a blessing and a gift to each of us.

We cherish our communities in which we live and strive to make it a dwelling place of saints and birth place of Angels by our own little deeds of love and dedicated life.

May the Spirit of the Lord help us in our all endeavors.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary be our Model.

May our Patron Saints intercede for us to the Lord.

May Mother Seraphina inspire us and have the joy of seeing her daughters living with “One heart and One Soul.”

PRAYER FOR FRATERNITY. (Let us pray it together--- one person may read and others can repeat)

Lord we pray for our community:

That we may know ourselves better in our aspirations,

Understand ourselves more in our limitations,

That each one of us be sensitive and act in response to the needs of others.

That our diversities may not divide us but unite us in our search for truth and wellbeing.

That our differences may not exclude anyone from the community but lead us to search for the richness of unity.

That we may see each one with your eye, Lord and we may love each other with your heart.

That our community may not be closed up in itself, but be available, open and sensitive to the needs of others.

That at the end of every journey and after each encounter, Let there be not “WINNERS”, but always “SISTERS” living in love.

Thank you Lord, for the Gift of our Community.

Questions for Reflection…

1.      Is my community a gift of the Spirit for me? How do I articulate it in my daily life?

2.      Do I sustain my community and does my community sustain me?

3.      What is my contribution towards my community?

4.      Count the blessings that you have received in and through your community and let every step you take today be a rhythm of thanksgiving to God for the gift of your community.