Mary Queen of the Rosary

The month of October holds a great significance in our Catholic Church as we celebrate the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary and thus consider this as a month of Rosary.  Rosary is not an empty formula which we recite without understanding or knowing its value. It is in fact a devotion and a valuable and lovely form of prayer which unites us with Jesus’ life in a more profound manner.

When we pray the rosary we are like little children on Mary’s lap mumbling her praises, delighting in her nearness as she too delights in our presence. Rosary is not something new to our blessed Mother for it is a weapon given by her to St. Dominic assuring him, that whatever is asked through the rosary, it will be given.  Even though we do not fully understand, we absorb the redemptive truth of our faith.  Mary does not mind our distractions, but appreciates our efforts in spending those precious moments of love with her while praying the rosary.

Every catholic feels privileged to pray this prayer which binds him or her with Jesus and Mary. We too, the Sisters and novices in Sacred Heart Training Centre feel the same as we express our love  to our blessed Mother by keeping up the month of the Rosary. In fact, we believe that Mary is our most holy mother and sole inspirer of our Institute. It is because of her intervention that our Congregation came into existence and our presence in this Institute is also her most desired plan and so living our lives as, “A living monument of gratitude to our blessed Mother” gives justice to our founder St. John Bosco’s saying.

The feast of our Lady of the Rosary was celebrated in a special manner by the beautifully animated prayer moments and Eucharistic celebration. The candle light rosary with the Maria Vihar Boarders was also an act of love to our blessed Mother. During the whole month the daily rosary was beautifully animated, keeping in mind the missionary month as well. This gave us opportunities to be creative and in our own way prove our love and devotion to our heavenly Mother. At the end of this month we, as her dear daughters, would wish to say only this, “Dear mother, bless us your loving daughters with peace, joy and enable us to spread the fragrance of your love to all around us.”

MY LIFE A UNIQUE GIFT FROM GOD

There is a God in my life

The God who gave me life.

He gives me strength to accomplish my task

He fulfills my every wish when I ask.

My life for him is very precious,

With him at my side I am courageous.

He is the one with whom I begin my day,

With him I can negotiate the hurdles on my way.

Life teaches me to do good and not bad,

To move on with my God without becoming sad.

Like a shadow He stands besides me

To put beauty in everything I see.

Nothing in this world can complete unique me.

I am valuable than diamond you see.

My life a unique gift from God

Which I live at the service of my Lord.

OUT ON A MISSION

“Go out to the margins, joyful bearers of Good News; bring God’s love to the poor and the needy.”

Following our Lord’s teaching, we the second year Novices of the Mumbai Province had a 45 days long APOSTOLIC EXPERIENCE in three different communities of the province. Sr. Kavita Dias and Sr. Savina Naik had their month long experience in the community of Mazzarello Kendra, Kasarkod and Sr. Maxina Luji and Sr. Ira Viegas had theirs in the community of Ranbambuli Oros. For the next fifteen days the four of us got together for an intensive experience of the mission in the community ANMOL Niwas - Koparkhairane, among the slums and the abandoned.

Ranging from assistance, catechism classes, good morning and good night talks, visiting families, NCPs, Marian Sodalities, SHG Groups, tuition classes, classes in schools, animating recreations, to animating special events, like, Teacher’s day, Mother Mary’s birthday, Marian night, etc., our experience was a full dose of almost everything we needed to know before saying our total and committed ‘Yes’ to the Lord.

The mission among the young especially the poor and the abandoned posed before each of us the challenge of being able to put our mission before ourselves and to reach out generously with a large heart to those society neglects and considers good-for-nothing. We are now sure that we too will be doing all we can to follow the Pope’s advice to wake up and reach out to the peripheries. We really had an Emmaus experience of meeting Jesus in the slum dwellers and the homeless. Their smile was homely and warm.

We are grateful to our dear Mother Provincial for giving us the opportunity to experience community and apostolic life in these exemplary communities of the Province. We are also grateful to our dear Sr. Anelfreda Miranda who accompanied us during these days and gave us her timely and wise guidance and advice.  Most of all we are thankful to the communities of Kasarkod, Oros and Koparkhairane for accepting us into their community and helping us to have a fruitful experience and enjoy the spirit of togetherness in their community. Thanking each Sister of the Province for supporting us during these days with your prayer. We surely had a wonderful experience and are sure to put ourselves totally in the mission which lies ahead of us.