Wednesday, 22 April 2015

World Gratitude Day 2015

TO GROW AND BLOOM WITH THE YOUNG 
WHERE GOD WANTS US TO

Kantuta - National Flower of Bolivia

Gratitude is the gateway to the divine and greatness is the day to a happy life. In typical Salesian tradition, Don Bosco has passed on that every Salesian community has a day of thanksgiving to the Superior. This festive tradition has been kept up from the very beginning in every community and in the Institute as a whole. In keeping with the theme of the Strenna proposed by the Rector Major, the theme chosen for the World Feast of Gratitude 2015 is, “To grow and flourish with the young wherever God wants us to”. This year the feast is to be celebrated in the Bolivian Province of Our Lady of Peace at Cochabamba (Bolivia) on the 25th and 26th of April, 2015.  For this feast, the whole Institute has a month long spiritual preparation to be kept up in every community. On 25th March 2015, we the community of SHTC Nashik lifted up our hearts and minds in joyful thanksgiving to God for our dear Mother General, as we began our spiritual preparation for the annual feast of gratitude.
We are very grateful to God for our beloved Mother General Sr. Yvonne Reungoat through whom He leads and guides our Institute on the path of Holiness in the footsteps of our founders Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello. To meet the demands of the first week of spiritual preparation that is signified by the colour red, symbolizing our Looking to the past with gratitude, we had a small thanksgiving prayer moment, thanking God for His marvelous interventions in our Institute, Mother Church and in our Community, during the past years. In the second week we have the yellow colour symbolizing our living the present with passion and joy and in the third week symbolized by the colour green we will focus on embracing the future with hope. As Salesian tradition has it, we also decorated our notice board creatively depicting the logo and the theme of the Feast. For a greater union with the Bolivian Province, we had conferences on the dossier sent by the Institute, in which the many details of the country and its people are highlighted.

Each FMA community spread over the globe is unique and important as a unique brick in the living monument of our Gratitude to our Blessed Mother. We are grateful to God for this our Institute named after the Help of Christians and for its members both past and present who over the ages have passed on to us the invaluable traditions of our Founders. We pray that God may bless our Institute and our dear Mother General, and help each Daughter of Mary Help of Christians to grow and to flourish with the young wherever God wants us to.
Celebrations at SHTC
 


No comments:

Post a Comment