“Into that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake”. The prayer of Rabindranath Tagore echoed in the minds and hearts of everyone on this 69^th Republic Day as we entered the place of prayer. With the ambient decorated with tricolours, we invoked the blessings of Almighty God on our nation blessed with diversity of languages, religions and cultures. The morning prayer and the Holy Eucharist focused on the significance of the day and on the theme, ‘Missionaries of Hope and Joy.’

Fr. Joseph Pauria SDB, the Vice Provincial of Kolkata, in his homily spoke about the early missionaries equipped with hope and joy. ‘A joyful holiness is more convincing’, he said, quoting the words of Pope Francis and invited the participants to be missionaries with an attractive smile.

The participants took part in the Republic Day celebrations hosted by Auxilium school, Dum Dum. Rev. Sr. Lucy Rose Ozhukayil the visiting councillor unfurled the tricolour and delivered the Republic Day message. She spoke about the tremendous growth achieved by the Nation in various fields and invited the audience to grow in tolerance and non-violence by developing a spirit of accommodation towards all.

Referring to the forthcoming Synod on young people, Mother General stated that our specific field of work is in the Church. She invited the participants to spend quality time with the young in order to serve them better. She insisted on the importance of joyful accompaniment of young in their search for place in the family, in the Church and in the society.

We then had the synthesis of question III: How do we express in our real life the renewed assumption of the Constitutions and Regulations of the Institute. This was followed by lively discussions from participants and the members of the General Council. At the end La Madre intervened with her words of wisdom and helped us understand that our Constitutions is the base of our personal life, community life and mission and it is very much in keeping with the teachings of the Church. She emphasised that we should not compromise with the formation of Sisters due to lack of financial and human resources.

Sr. Runita Borja gave us a glimpse into the Guidelines for Management of Goods in the FMA Institute which helped us understand the document more clearly. In the end the participants watched with great interest the creative presentation of the Mumbai Province on the Encyclical ‘Laudato sì’. Joining St. Francis we say Laudato si Signore !