Annual retreat of the Sisters was held from 31 December to 7 January 2023, at Auxilium convent Bandel.  It was preached by Rev. Fr. James Chacko SDB.  55 Sisters from all directions of our province gathered under the umbrella of Our Lady of Bandel to spend 8 days under her protection in the company and communion with her Son Jesus the source of all wisdom and knowledge and the true light. We gathered in the old year 2022, with all our old ways to welcome the New Year 2023 with the newness of His Spirit to be enlightened and renewed persons filled with his graces and blessings, to begin once again our life with renewed spirit.

All the way to heaven is heaven. Coming to Bandel is like Moses going to Mount Sinai to encounter the Lord or going to mount Tabor with the Lord to experience the divine. Our retreat days were like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen to him, to be enlightened and to begin a life of love and service, seeing the face of Jesus in everyone, and thus living a life of holiness. In reality life is difficult, everyday one needs to face the challenges, risks and difficult circumstances. From time to time we need to go to a lonely place to reflect, to meditate, to communicate with our beloved Lord Jesus and to get direction from Him. Our union with God is the greatest gift of our true happiness. We need to surrender our lives lovingly to God so that he can lead and direct our lives in a fruitful manner. Love is the guiding principle in our journey to God through our deep prayer lives. Our whole lives must become prayer, union with our beloved Lord. As the fruit of our prayer, our lives become God and other-centered. Constant prayer leads us to forgiveness and forgiveness leads us to true humility. Thus, prayer becomes life and life becomes prayer and we are able to live our spirit of prayer the whole day long, not only when we are in the Chapel, thus our life become more meaningful and we are able to live our consecrated life in union with God and one another. Mary is the model of prayer and perfection: our prayer leads us to holiness and perfection.

The event of the Samaritan Woman led us to the reflection that my wholeness is in Jesus and my life in communion with him and with others. The one who is at home in the heart, is at home everywhere, this leads us to live God-centered and other-centered  lives. God has called us by name and we are precious to him. Jesus is present with us always. It is we who have to feel his presence in our lives. When this happens love becomes the essence of our existence and our life becomes life of communion with one another and everyone.

The practice of Evangelical counsels is our help for living healthy relationships. It is on my today that I build my tomorrow and my future by living the present. Our life is now the present moment. Let us live it to the full. There is a question to be answered: “If we do not live today, why should we live tomorrow? If we do not use the gift of our life, why shouldn’t be given to us tomorrow?” We need to be aware that our communion with Christ must always be accompanied by our communion with others. Jesus repeated over and over again “The Kingdom of heaven is here, now within you”. Often we are ahead or behind, we are hardly in the present.

In consecrated chastity, one receives the grace of falling in love with God, who is the most loveable of all beings. The love of others becomes an integral part of our love for God. Don Bosco lived his chastity as a love for God and for the young which had no limit. Our vow of chastity helps us to love God and others with undivided heart that relates with everyone, and have the readiness to serve others generously.

The deepest motivation for religious poverty is the acceptance of God as the center of our lives, which leads us to relive in ourselves the self-emptying of Christ. In this way our poverty becomes an act of total love and self-giving. Poverty gives us freedom to avail ourselves for selfless service.

Religious Obedience in an imitation of Christ’s Obedience. Like Jesus I love God my Father knowing that he loves me personally and cares for me, so I place all my trust in him and I am happy to carry out his will. Jesus obeyed his Father’s will through human mediation so too do we: the Gospel, the Constitutions, the superiors and the community. The characteristics of our obedience are: In a spirit of faith, filial, prompt and cheerful obedience. Our community is based on obedience. God brings us together for a “Purpose, which we have discovered as a community. Obedience is an attitude of a daughter. It is a kind of listening that only a daughter can do in listening to her parents.” Obedience to God is the path of growth, of freedom for the person because this obedience allows for the acceptance of a plan or a will different from one’s own. Freedom is also in itself a path of obedience. The presence of obedience in the fabric of the community.

The last day of retreat was making peace with God and one another through the sacrament of reconciliation in order to begin our new life with the Lord and with his grace. Mother Mary is the surest way to the Lord, whoever holds the hand of our Heavenly Mother will always be protected under her mantle. The Spiritual retreat came to an end with the solemn Holy Eucharist.

Filled with God’s grace after our spiritual renewal, the whole group felt the need of living the holiness of life

Bandel Retreatants