BIRTHDAY – 12

Dear Sisters we have double reasons to rejoice and celebrate as we join with the church in prayer and thanksgiving, on this solemn day of the presentation of the Lord. We remember Mary and Joseph who presented Jesus and worshiped their God, Simeon and Anna who proclaimed the mighty deeds of God. On this day of the consecrated people Lord bless each one of us to live our consecrated life to the full and glorify your name. Secondly today our hearts over-whelm with joy as our dear Sr. … celebrates her birthday. At this moment let us place Sr. .. and every consecrated person in the hands of the Lord.

Bhajan……

 Introduction:

This is the time to recall all our gifts great and small and a time for revealing our thoughts and feelings to people we care for. Yes dear Sr. Jyothi we are privileged to celebrate and rejoice with you for the beautiful gift of life that God has given you. We thank God for your father and pray for his eternal happiness. We thank God for your mother who was an instrument in bringing you up in life always as guide and support. We also thank God for your brothers and sisters friends and relatives, your congregation and all it’s members, and all those persons who have played an important role in your life.  As we thank God for your very person we do recall the footprints that you followed and the footprints that you left behind along the paths of your life’s journey and in the lives of the people you have met in your life.

            Footprints are indications of the presence of someone who has walked a head. The footprints of great people can be a help to us in choosing our life’s paths. They leave memories behind even in the absence of the person. These footprints are memorials, which fill our hearts with gratitude and love.  Dear Sr. … as you recall the past years of your life in the hands of the Lord, you have the imprinted memories of the events and people, places and opportunities, which have helped you in shaping up your life according to God’s will. You have left footprints in the lives of the people you have encountered. You have let others experience freedom and joy to be what they are and encouraged them to grow and move a head in life. Thus your footprints have become a

positive indicator to all and especially to us of the uniqueness of your personality.

Placing the steps

* For a spiritual warrior it takes guts to open up and soften up to the tenderness, vulnerability and shadows that abide within. One of the marks of true greatness is the ability to develop greatness in others. Dear Sr. Jyothi with your gentleness, approachability, encouragement, perseverance and ability to reason out things you have left behind footprints as an inspiration to many. [Placing footprint]

*Love learns all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Yes Sr.Jyothi you have left behind marks of love with your simplicity, broadmindedness, availability and the freedom you give us to express ourselves without masks. You still help us to see the core point in every matter. [Placing footprint]

*Let’s listen to the conversation between a shepherd and the sheep

Shepherd, Where are you going?                             To find my sheep

How far will you go?                                     As far as my sheep goes                

How far that might be?                                           To the worlds end

How long will you seek it?                                            Until I find it

When you find your sheep will it come to you?         No, it will flee             

Where will it go then?                                    To the rocks and the sand       

When will it stop?                                            When it can run no more

What will you do then?   I will Carry it on my shoulder and bring it back.     

                                                                   home with me.

 Sr. .., as a woman and a committed religious you have encouraged women all along your life. You have left a mark of love in the life of everyone you have encountered, your enthusiasm, hard work, responsibility and above all the trust you have in each one of us have boosted our spirits and helped us to look at horizons with hope and determination. [Placing footprint]

*For many consecrated persons the life’s mantra is to live Jesus.a prayer leading to action, to make Jesus as the center of our life and activities, and to you Sr. … your faith, love for the word of God and readiness to share it with others both in words and in action draw each one of us and others close to that living mantra Live Jesus and to live it in its fullness and in fully feminist way.     

Hymn………..

Prayer of Sr. …

Thank you father for the gift of my life,

And the undeserved graces that I receive constantly.

You call me, “ME” and in every passing instant I would not exist, except by your grace.

Thank you for thinking of me, placing me in your great world, in the company of good and loving people. Thank you for my parents, my friends and relatives, my congregation and all those who have loved and taught me how to love. Bless all those who have cared for my well-being and me, all those who have taught me to love life and all those who remember me on this auspicious day. Thank you for the unique gift you have given me, for my health and strength, senses and memory, for the power to love and to understand. Thank you for the past years of my life and the coming moments that you have kept in store for me. All the beauty I have seen, things I had been able to do and the love I have received and given, the gifts that you gave me even without asking for.  What more have you prepared for me in love, my God? What marvels of your tender mercy are still hidden from my sight? You invite me to trust in you for the future and to expect still greater surprises from you. I look forward Lord then, to the time that still remains for me with hope, excitement and with peace. And be with me Lord as I continue to follow your footprints as your child.                 

Step by steps Hymn….

Reading:

I have called you by name you are mine. You are precious in my sight and I love you.

 Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb, even if these forget I will not forget you, see I have inscribed you on the palm of my hands.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm to give you a future with hope.

 

We always give thanks to God for you and mention you in our prayers constantly remembering before our God, your works of faith love and steadfastness of hope in the Lord.

Story:

Narrator: Years back there bloomed a beautiful rose in a garden. All admired its beauty. One day …..

 Passer By: what a beautiful rose, I feel I am lost in it’s beauty and fragrance.

Narr: Rose began to think…….music

Rose: if I am so beautiful..  Then how beautiful will be my creator? I want to see my creator

Narr: Here she starts her journey in search of the creator and there on the way she meets a young girl.

Young Girl: this is a beautiful rose. Let me pluck it to put it on my hair.( she reaches her hand to the rose)

Rose: please don’t pluck me, I am in search of my creator but please show me the way.

Y. G.: what will you give me if I show you the way?

R:  I have nothing else to offer you except the beautiful and soft petal.

N: with a pain in the heart yet with joy the rose offers its petal and continues its journey.

Small child: this is a wonderful flower, which I can give to my Mama on her Birthday.

N: hearing this the rose cried out..

Rose: please darling don’t cut me I am on my way to see the creator, please do help me in my search.

Ch: what will you give me if I help you?

R: I have nothing else to give you other than my petals.

N: again the rose with a deep pain in the heart but with a great desire of meeting the Lord offers its petal to the child.

Woman: this rose will look beautiful in my vase let me cut it

R: have compassion on me and do not cut me because I want to see my creator.

W: what’s that to me? I want you.

R: I will give you my petal but do not cut me.

N: the rose offering it’s one more beautiful petal to the woman continues it’s journey. But then stops for a while with a deep pain in heart and says….

R:If I continue to give myself I will be disfigured and will I be able to reach my creator? [Sobbing]

God: My beloved you are the reflection of my beauty and you added beauty to yourself. You fulfilled my plan for you when you gave yourself generously and selflessly without counting the cost of it even though it was painful. Go ahead on your life’s journey with conviction and determination. Never lose heart. I your creator am with you in all that you dream and hope for. Continue to be what you are to the people around you. Yes dear Sr. … Today this is the message of God gives for you that you may continue to be that beautiful rose to spread the fragrance wherever you move and add beauty in the lives of the people you encounter and live with.

Kannada Hymn……….

Offering of Lotus:

          Lotus grows in the water its roots are in the dirty water but it does not conform to the dirt but comes out as a beautiful flower and stands gloriously and joyfully keeping its head straight looking up to the creator. Dear Sr. … the world in which you live has a lot of struggles and trials with people both good and evil. People who are firebrands and passive about life.

 *Today as one more leaf opens in your life we pray may you have the strength to continue to stand for your ideas and convictions looking higher for a right cause. [Petal is opened]

  * Sr… as you hold greater responsibility, we pray May God be your guide and leader as you open up a new year in your life. [Petal is opened]

*Sr. …. as you unfold one more year in life may God give you good health to carry out your mission with joy and zeal. [Petal is opened]

·         Sr. … as the lotus brings beauty to the surroundings we wish that you may enjoy the beauty of life and have the grace to see and respect the beauty in others. [Petal is opened]

*Sr. … as you move ahead in life and days unfold its beauty may you be blessed with new friends and well-wishers to lighten your life’s burdens and share your hearts deepest thoughts. [Petal is opened]

Concluding:

Dear Sr. … as you look back into the shore of your life’s journey you see the foot prints of God. A God who has walked with you side by side all along the way  and listened to your cares and  helped you to carry  your burden and shared  your joys and sorrows. Following the footprints of God you have been filled with hope, freedom and wholeness in your life.

* On this special day we pray that all that is you, may proclaim god’s greatness and love.

* May the living and eternal God present within you be the destiny of your life and guide along the way.

* May you be free from anxieties and fears.

* May you always be enveloped in the great love of the Lord.

* May your life spread the fragrance of joy and goodness as you bloom  in the Lord’s garden.