BIRTHDAY PRAYER - 17

Light represents the light of Christ, as our dear sister receives the chandhamam and perform the arathi we pray that let her life be a buring lamp for the other…

          The birthday is always a happy event, a clear sign of God’s blessings. Life is a precious gift and we do well to keep a day to thank God for this gift. Yes, dear Sr. …today is a special day for you, as you celebrate your birthday.

          God had thought of you from all eternity and he has called you to participate in His plans for the salvation of human kind and the extension of His kingdom. your greatness is not in yourself but in the task assigned to you, in order that you may fulfill God’s plan and your mission. He has planned your whole life and every detail of it. He formed you lovingly and carefully exactly to His specifications; every detail just as He wanted it. Your looks, your abilities, your place of birth, your family that would nurture your vocation and the congregation in which your life would blossom and be brought to fullness. Nothing in your life has been accidental upto this point. In love he reached out to you and drew you to himself through circumstances. The trails and crosses that come to your way were no accidental either. Living in Him, He holds you very preciously, he will lead you to appreciate the goodness and oneness of all creation. He will light up your mind and heart so that you will perceive the divine plan for you. More than this, he will fill your heart with his own love and goodness…I have carried you….

Before we begin this beautiful day let us kneel down and adore the Blessed Trinity with a hymn…

Introduction: Everyday is a gift of God’s love. Loving God, you protected us through out the night and presented one more day to gather around your altar as a loving family to praise your name. Thank you dear Lord for your wonderful blessings. Today in a special way we are very happy to raise our hearts in thankfulness for the very gift of our dear Sr…. who is celebrating her feast day. On this day let us remember her patroness…

          Dear sister, you are a precious gift to our community. We found that you are doing everything so silently. You are very simple and humble and you are a person with so many good talents. So let us thank god for the very person of sister and also shall ask God’s blessings for all her intentions.

USE ME TODAY O LORD

My Lord and my God Jesus, you who made your triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of an ass, deign to use me today as that ass which carries you into the lime light of today’s modern world.

          Deign O Lord to use me today as a loud speaker that gives wings to your word and teachings for the benefit of those living around me.

          Deign O Lord to turn me today into a flowerbed that exudes your divine fragrance alone for every passer by to breathe in.

          Deign O Lord, to use me today as a mirror that reflects your inspiring face and divine personality to everyone who looks upon me.

          Deign O Lord to turn me today into a tree producing fruits of your Holy Spirit to nourish those who come to sit and rest in my shade.

          Lastly, my Lord and my God, deign to use me today as a broom, but a broom held in your holy hands your powerful hands, your hands that shower forth graces and blessings alone, in order to sweep clean all the nooks and corners of my today’s way according to your holy will. Amen…

Mass introduction

Love! Yes, love is the binding force of the universe. Before even the world was created love was existing. Since God is love, love also like God is the beginning and the end of the universe. God’s work of creation took place in love. His saving plan was a perfect act of love and his sanctifying work is being carried out in love.

Yes, dear sisters, this love of God is made manifested to our eyes

-          In the bright and radiant sun

-          In every tiny stars that twinkle in the night sky

-          In the gentle and cool moon

-          In every drop of morning dew

-          In the summer’s bright rainbow

-          In every green plant

-          In every colorful flower

-          In every chirping bird

-          In every animal that swiftly runs

-          In every pretty butterfly

-          In every ocean wave that breaks upon the shore

And in every radiating smile of a child and above all in the person of our dear sister….

The whole of creation is the manifestation of God’s fascinating love. Even when this beautiful creation was corrupted by the entrance of sin into the universe God once again manifested his love by sending his only son into the world to redeem it and beautify it by his body and blood.

Yes dear sisters, that supreme act of God’s love is made manifested to us these days through the Eucharistic banquet in which we remember and renew each day our covenant of love to God. Today in a special way we have the joy of experiencing God’s love made manifested in the person of our dear sister… as we celebrate her feast day let us bring her to this altar of love that the God of love may bless her with choicest blessings.

          Dear sister, God has not promised skies always blue or flowers strewn pathways all our life through, God has not promised sun without rain, joy without pain or peace without strain but he has promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, light for the way, help from above, unfailing care and undying love. So dear sister remembering these promises and praying for all your intentions, we join in this Eucharistic meal of love.

SYMBOLIC OFFERINGS:

SALT:          - flowers are the wealth of the plant

-          Fruits are the wealth of the tree

-          Birds are the wealth of the sky

-          Animals are the wealth of the forest

: 2:

-          Vegetation are the wealth of the land

-          Salt is the wealth of seas

And you dear sisters are the wealth of our congregation.

Yes, dear Lord, all that we have on this earth is your perfect gift to us. Today as we thank you for the gift of our dear sister, we offer her at your feet in the symbol of salt. Salt has different functions. It preserves the food from getting decayed and gives taste and flavor. When it is put in the water, it dissolves itself in the water having no identity of its own, similarly let this offering may have impact in the life of our sister. Let the very gift of her vocation may enable her to give meaning to the meaningless, to give voice to the voiceless, to give strength to the weak, to be a mother and sister to the motherless.

          Thus add taste and flavor to the life of the people with whom she is entrusted.

Lord, be her support and guide, joy and solace, comfort and counselor. Walk with her, down through the valley and over the plain

       Down in the shadow and in the sunshine

       Down in her strength and strife

       Down in her joys and sorrows

       Down in her todays and tomorrows. Be with her all through her life’s uneven journey that she may find joy and fulfillment in serving you THANK YOU LORD!

PLANT: Dear sisters, this plant we now offer to the Lord has a special message to tell us especially to our feasterian sister. This plant speaks of the eight aspects of a community life namely living, giving, sharing, receiving, loving, praying, bearing and working.

          Dear Lord, this plant reminds us very much of our dear sister’s profound living and her generous giving, joyful sharing and her grateful receiving, angelic loving and her ardent praying, unconditional bearing and tireless working.

          As we thank you Lord, for all these good qualities, you have put within her, we ask your choicest blessings upon her. As the plant is well rooted in the earth to stand steadily and draw water and manure for its survival, let our sister’s faith may be firm and let her draw strength from your fount of living water. As the plant gets light from the sun to energize itself let the warmth of your love and light give energy to her when she is troubled. As the leaves are always greeny, let her be possessed in love and integrated personality. As the plant always draws the sap upward let all her thoughts, words and deeds be upward towards you to fulfill your plan in her. Accept it and bless our dear sister Lord!

SHELL WITH PEARL: You are a miracle of God.

               -   A tree is the miracle of a tiny seed

-          A flower is the miracle of a tiny plant

-          A melody is the miracle of music

: 3:

-          A dance is the miracle of culture

-          A fountain is the miracle of a mountain

-          A gift is the miracle of love

-          A pearl is the miracle of shell

-          And you dear sister are the miracle of God.  

Dear lord, we place in your loving arms our dear sister as a symbol of shell with pearl. Our patron St. Francis de Sales in his IDL states that a pearl oysters though it lives in the sea, never let in a single drop of salt water, rather it goes to the spring of fresh water where it can let in the pure water. So also Lord, you have called our sister from the world to lead a life not of the world. The world around is corrupted by all sorts of evils, tormented by all sorts of trials. In the midst of trials and tribulation, difficulties and pain let our sister be to moved but like a mountain be strong in her faith and let she open her shell only to your divine graces which may enable her to grow day by day in your love.

NINE VESSELS OF OIL [alphabets of the person’s name]

Lord, in silent wonder, we stand before you and bathe ourselves in thanks for the torrents of your love that you have lavished on our dear sister… and through her to each one of us. As dearly loved daughters, we lean on the bosom of our heavenly father to offer the very person of our dear sister.

          Dear Lord, we carry these nine vessels of oil, which will be poured into the… symbolizing the nine prominent qualities of our sister. When mingled together it brings out her integrated personality. Each letter of her name denotes a quality which together stands for her unassuming personality.

                    C- stands for courage and commitment

A-   Availability and attentive love

T- thoughtfulness, fulfilling her role with tact and thoughtfulness

H- stands for happy, healthy and healing presence

E- evergreen personality

R- righteousness

 I  - integrity

N – nobility

E _ earnestness to fulfill God’s plan.

Dear sister as you light the lamp which symbolizes your life, we pray that the Lord may draw you and you may run after the allurements of his love and never run out of oil to burn as a flame. May you rest secure in the paternal arms of our heavenly father and become the flame of love.