Experience in Anugraha

MY EXPERIENCE IN ANUGRAHA

“To look at the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion and to embrace the future with hope” (Pope Francis)

Thankfulness is a prominent Bible theme. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Give thanks in all circumstances. Thankfulness should be a way of life for me, naturally flowing from my heart and mouth.

From 2 of October to 3^rd of November, I was attending the Counselling training program in Dindugal, In India.   Every experience is actually an experience of the whole person.  Because, I learned with different activity, experiences, accompaniments, Yoga, and learning all the Skills for the counselling, it is help me lots. All the experiences helped me to understand the differences of the human existence.  This is an important lesson to remember the situations and events and the learning process. Things will change: we won’t feel this way forever. And anyway, sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones our soul needs most. I believe we can't feel real joy unless we've felt sorrow. We can't have a sense of victory unless we know what it means to fail.

I am deeply grateful for all the experience of being a joyful Claretian Missionary”.  For this I have realized the need to “start from my faith and to encounter with Jesus”. I  have  to encourage myself  to look from the perspective of  my faith like our Lord on how he was leading his life, and to revive the moments on that day I  felt “loved and called” in order to follow Him with trust.  I need to deepen in the importance of feelings for two reasons: one is the co-responsibility, and the other is that a service of charity and simplicity. The Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love that precedes us.

There were 65 Religious and lay people from different Congregations, especially being together and experiencing with them as a one family, made me to realized that God has a purpose for each one of us. We are all called, whether we know it or not, to share in the mission of his church in the world in a particular way. This is what we mean by ‘vocation’ or ‘calling’. ‘Discernment’ is the task of trying to understand what God wants of us, in order to do it. It is a life-long task, as we try to determine God’s will for us in every individual moment of our lives. The way to discern our unique vocation is prayer – and specifically prayer that listen attentively to God. Being attentive to God’s Word means spending time with the scriptures and sharing in the liturgical and sacramental life of the church.

As our constitutions says: The true faithfulness to our Vocation is an everyday task, because every day we must choose the Lord anew by a fidelity that sometimes can be difficult, but we that neither anything nor anybody can separate us from the love of Christ.

Thank you very much

                                                                                                                        Resilda Edwin

Experience of the Aspirants

The experiences of Aspirants

           We the Nirmala Nivas community have the formation house for the aspirants. As every year, this year also we had different competitions for aspirants, as the preparation to the feast of our father founder St. Antony Mary Claret. The provided platform and opportunities helped them to grow and nature their talents they share the insides and experiences with us.

       We are the aspirants from different states of our country. One fine day in charge sister informed us that we are going to have some competitions for the feast of our founder St. Antony Mary Claret.  We had 7 different competitions such as singing, solo dance, quiz, speech on father Claret, cooking (preparing sweets), flower arrangement, drawing the image of father Claret as the conclusion for our competitions, we also performed  the drama of father Claret.  We started our competitions two months before the feast, when sister told about the competitions we were always thinking about that,without knowing how it will be and how we are going to do the competitions. With the help of our sisters little by little we started the competitions and did our best.

         We were shy to perform in front of people because we do not know how to speak English well and have never done before like these competitions in our lives but after performing, we learned many things.We came to know what is our capacity, how to help others and to work together, learn how to speak in public and also how to perform in front of the people.  Though before we did not know many things and lived in our narrow knowledge but after we came here we also come to know many things and what is world. We  came to know about our father founder,if any one would ask about him  we are able to answer. These competitions also taught us how to collaborate with others and to respect each ones opinion as we worked together in different teams.

          We are grateful to the sisters who arranged this and helped us to prepare for the competitions.

          It was nice and enjoyable. It was good experience that we can’t forget in our lives because it taught us many things to grow more and more in our life and our vocation journey. We are thanking our sisters from the bottom of our heart and look forward for many other events like this.

         We think that if we will put our efforts more and more we can do still better. Once again thank you sisters.

Aspirants from Nimala Nivas community,

 Mysore.

ASPIRANCY ENTRANCE

Aspirancy entrance 

                              

Our candidate Soosayamma Croos [Nithusha ] began her first stage of formation On the 21^st  of September, the feast of the Apostle and Evangelist  St. Matthew.

After her few months experience of “Come and See” she expressed her desire to become a Claretian Sister. Then On the 21^st Morning the community had a special prayer to welcome the Candidate for a new stage of formation. The candidate also made a beautiful prayer to thank the Lord for the gift of life and vocation. We as community welcome her joyfully and spent the day praying for her.

Some words From Aspirant Soosayamma Croos [Nithusha]

On the 21^st was a memorable day and most awaited day for me. On this day I promised to God to offer my self for Him.  I was very happy. I thanked the Lord for calling me and I prayed to God to guide me continually in His path.

During my “Come and See” period I have experienced God through my little prayer and in the community. The Sisters in the community were very supportive and they have encouraged me to discern God’s Call for me. I admire the life style of the Sisters; it has inspired me a lot.

I thank the Lord for all the blessings I have received within the few months of my experiences with God and the Sisters.

                                                                                        Koswatta, Colombo

                                                                                              Community

ENTRY TO THE NOVITIATE

CONGRATULATIONS DEAR KAMALDA

As she has begun this journey of life into this religious Consecration.Let us wish her all the best for the new stage of formation and also  assist  her through our prayers and support that she may joyful and preserve in her vocation as a Claretian.

FEAST DAY

FEAST DAY

     On 24^th October we the Nirmala Nivas community had celebrated the feast of our father founder St. Claret. In the morning we offered prayers for our congregation of Claretian sisters & Claretian Fathers, Benefactors and our well-wishers. We had conducted sundry competitions in our community, as we prepared ourselves for the feast. The prize distribution for those competitions was held. Then we had games to encourage the participants in the spirit of celebration. It was a motivating and refreshing one, as most of the participants were happy to join and play. There were different types of games that added happiness to the gathering.  It was indeed a splendid noon with love and care. We celebrated the feast of St. Antony Maria Claret with great joy and enthusiasm. As a preparation for the feast, we, both the communities in Mysore, Nirmala Nivas and Antonia Paris Nilaya Communities joined together to make this event very memorable and joyful one. We took special interest to make the feast more creative and meaningful. The co-operation and collaboration of our Claritian spirit enabled us to find meaning in the celebration.

Towards the evening we moved to Antonia Paris Nilaya community where we greeted all the community members & also took part in the ceremony of entrance to the noviciate of our postulant Kamalda. We wished all the very best for her new step and prayed for her perseverance.

A memorable liturgy was organised and arranged by the sisters on this joyful occasion to share our Claretians’ spirit with the universal church in celebrating the feast of St. Claret. Fr.Joseph Thambi (TOR) delivered an inspiring message to the gathering and faithful. In his message he highlighted the theme of our vocation and the mission for which we are called to do. And also He encouraged us to develop the attitude of St. Claret, to be a more loving and a caring person in the society.

We, after sharing the Eucharistic table in the liturgy, moved to the sharing of the living-table. Delicious and sumptuous Dinner was prepared to remind us of the blessings of the almighty through our founder St. Claret. It was well prepared and served.

We then moved back to our community with the same spirit to celebrate the life in the footsteps of our founder St. Claret.

On reaching the community we shared our experiences with one another, with this joyful note we ended the celebration with the mission and vision to carry out the Charism of our founder St. Claret. On this day we enjoyed and recalled the purpose of our being in this congregation and lived a meaningful day.

                  A wonderful experience

E

ducation is the powerful weapon which can change the world. The community of Antonia Paris Nilaya started the Tuition program for the Children with the remuneration.

 I Sr.Rahil Kandulna personally involve in this apostolate and happy to be part of this, to teach these little ones by admiring their innocence.  As I see and experience, it is the great opportunity and learning for me. The very first thing which I have experienced is to be innocent like the small children. And that is, the one of the great virtue of Jesus as well as our founders. As I involve directly in this apostolate I have come to know their way of life and also their needs. As we teach the subjects we also get the opportunity to implement the value of the Gospel. As I have been given this opportunity I am grateful to the community as well as to the congregation. This is the golden chance where I explore myself to the people and give myself directly to the needy. It is not the interest of one person but I see the collaboration of the community with wholeheartedly.  I experience the positive respond of the parents of the children. And they are happy about it. And we the community hope for the best. 

Meeting of Superiors and delegates

Meeting of Superiors and Delegates

We thank the Lord for the wonderful things he has done to us and   all our sisters in the delegation for making these days possible for us to have this meeting. The meeting was held from 29^th of September till Oct 1^st at Antonia Paris Nilaya, Naguvanahalli. Srs Rani, Thushari, Geraldine, Arularasi, Pravina, Rajani, Jothi, Jincy, Shanthi and Jacquline were present. First day Sr. Rani shared the experiences of the XVII General Chapter with some photos and explanations.  In the afternoon Sr. Thushari presented first part of the chapter document and later in the afternoon Sr. Rani presented the second part of the document as well the changes in the Constitutions and Directory. We had personal reading of the Document and group sharing based on the document. It helped us to understand better the chapter document and its depth. The next day each Councilor presented their prefectures. We had time for clarifications and questions regarding different issues. It helped us to build up our relationship as one family. We thank all the sisters who participated and all other sisters who supported us through their prayers.Thank you very much. In the last day of the meeting we had gone for the Dasara Exhibition and had fun.