On 29 May 2019, 44 FMA of INC Kolkata, set out for a picnic with the Lord. The bus number ABCDEF driven by Fr. Cletus D’Souza SDB (INB) was an amusing picnic for eight days. At the starting point, the journey seemed to be frightening because it was an inner journey. At the outset of the journey a few simple tips were given: ESP – eat well, sleep well and pray well. The first clarion call was to “Be soaked in the Lord and enjoy the picnic”. The principal agent would be the holy Spirit who would guide, to re-consider, re-launch, re-charge and renew in the course of time. Rev.3:20-22, Ex.3:5, Ps. 46:10 and 1Kings 19:9-14 would help to experience the land of stillness, silence and solitude.

The first day was a wake-up call: A- AWARENESS, to be aware of one’s thoughts, words and deeds, of one’s sinfulness and faults. For a greater self-awareness Lk. 15:11ff – to analyse one’s own status and to recognize the magnanimity of God’s love and forgiveness. The second day focussed on B- BALANCE, to maintain one’s poise, keeping the head, heart and hands in the right place. A clarion call: It is better to strive for creative fidelity than mere perseverance. The three vows (PCO) have to be lived with wows. The simple formula for living in wow is to choose simple living, prodigious love, and total surrender.

The third day’s journey focussed on C-CHRIST, centering on Christ: The Christ of fantasy, of history, of scripture, the saviour and the indwelling Christ. Towards dusk everyone discovered their most beloved, the meaning of their lives. They were challenged to be WORDy (Welcome the word, Open the word, Read the word, Daily) FMA.

Fourth day unfolded D-DESERT, the desert experience in the hustles and bustles of life, a day out with the Lord. Even though the weather condition did not support the journey, the retreatants were determined to undergo even the toughest experience. Most of them really made it possible, few others went half way through and others had a desert journey under the same roof, alone with the alone. By 5pm all returned to their abode, fully contented. The meeting point at the Eucharist was unique and everyone was determined to be his witnesses in the world.

The fifth day was a day in with the E-EUCHARIST. The Eucharist, the source and summit of every Christian, energised and activated their faith. Whole day they gazed at the beloved of their life and thanked him for his tremendous love. During the holy Eucharist, the three parts of the Eucharist, sorry, story and glory was made very clear. A challenge was to be a MAD (Make A Difference) FMA and the four ‘L’ strategy, live, love, learn and leave a legacy, can nurture life in the community.

On the last day of the picnic with the Lord, the emphasis was on F-FAITH. Faith invites us to be faithful and faith-filled; awakening faith, maintaining faith and deepening the faith in order to live by faith. The dawn of 5 June brightened up as these travellers reached back after their rich experiential picnic, fully contented and they looked WORDy. After having recharged with the divine, they decided to be more human and more divine by being a WORDy fma as they get back to the Galilee of their daily life.

                                                                                                                                     The Retreatants

29 participants, the animators, provincial council and two sisters from shilling province were gathered in the hallowed space of Bandel under the maternal mantle of Our Lady of Voyage to start their spiritual vacation with the Lord.   The  preacher Fr. Cletus D’Souza aptly dubbed it as ‘a picnic with the Lord’.

The exhorting words of Sr. Rose Ezarath our provincial, ‘Retreat is a time to experience the personal love for God for you’ , God waits for you to come away to a lonely place to dialogue with him” was the starter that enkindled   to set each one   on the  trail of   inner journey.

At the start of his talk he presented the triple strategy for happy living 888- 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, 8 hours of prayer family, friends. He said that 1/10 of the day that is 2 hours 40 minutes is to be given to the Lord as a tithe in our daily schedule. Everyone was elated with ESP the triple programme sleep well, eats well and pray well.

But the next triple paralyzing disease plaguing the modern religious was shocking: lame, tame and same. Lame mediocrity – no zest, no fire, Tame – lost of the prophetic punch, same – sticking to past without novelty.  The solution suggested was to be fresh bread and sparkling wine.

His series of talk gave the ABCDEF of a committed religious life:

1. Awareness – The bedrock of religious life is waking up _ wake up to every person, wake up to every situation. So be awake alert and be alive.
2. Balancing- the head, heart and hand to be integrated that you become a harmonious and equanimous person who is human and holy.
3. Centering – Sequela Christi – Making Jesus the focus and centre of our lives.
4. Discipleship – listen, accompaniment, table fellowship and evangelized and evangelize
5. Eucharist- become bread broken for others
6. Faith- follow Mary in her paradigm of faith. YES – Yearning for God, Enthusiasm, small yes’s repeated to the daily routine and mission.

The retreatants were elevated and ignited by some of the special strategies used by Fr. Cletus .

1. The desert sojourn. Retreatants were asked to leave the hallowed places in the chapel and to go out in search of a desert outside equipped with a bottle of water, Bible, a book to write your spiritual journal and the rosary to recite the entire rosary.  The duration of the desert experience was 9a.m.-5p.m.  The retreats were asked to write personal formula for the profession, poem and individual Magnificat.  Some of the  sisters found their desert spaces in the Auxilium Bandel garden, others in Bandel Basilica ground and near the river site.  In the evening during the Eucharist each one shared their unforgettable and rich encounter with the Lord and oneself.
2. Eight hours encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist. Each one had a privileged moment right in front of the Lord touching on the altar on the kneeler peering right on the host.  This too was a beautiful moment.
3. The product of the Eucharist was service was enacted by the washing of feet. Four groups were asked to assemble outside the church where two benches were placed, with two basins, jugs of water and towels.  Each group washed the feet of the members of another group and it was reversed giving chance for everyone to experience both the roles of being washed and to wash the feet.  Everyone was reminded of Pope Francis and felt happy to be in his shoes.  This experience will remain ingrained in our memory and will prompt us to do the same in our day to day life situations.

Armed with the triple adieu memo: Believe in yourself, believe in others and believe in God the participants set off to : rebirth, recreate, re-found, re-invent, re-visit, re-form and re-vision their Life with prophetic punch, enthusiasm and joy.

                                                                                                                                            Sr. Stella P.

A day of  togetherness celebrated  at Aqua Marina, Chinsura.

The Annual Spiritual Retreat was held from 27 December 2018 – 3 January 2019 at Auxilium Convent School, Bandel.  The retreat preacher was the Rector of Salesian College, Sonada Rev. Fr. Vargehese Kalluvachal.  The introductory talk of Provincial Sr. Rose Ezarath was based on having a deep experience with God and she highlighted the Art 49 of our Constitutions which speaks about the attitude of conversion and penance.  During her good night talks she stressed on the community and apostolic life as she read the reflection given by Pope Francis.

The theme of the retreat was “Renewal of the Religious”.  It was developed gradually with the following sub topics: Emotional Wounds, Forgiveness, Beatitudes, Religiosity, Evangelical Vows, Community life, Prophetic Apostolate, Prayer life, Sense of humour, Role of Mary and Eucharist.  After every talk Fr. Varghese put some relevant questions to reflect on.  Before concluding the retreat participants were asked to make a synthesis of the talk.  The preacher led the group from Good Friday to the Easter Sunday of our life.  It was time of introspection of ourselves and to know the mask we wear to cover emotional wounds.  Some of the insights we received were: we are called to be learners of Christ and change ourselves not others, to be like Christ we need to have the attitude of Jesus to make beatitudes as Be-attitudes, live religious vows with new dimensions in the communities, to be available at all times and to be Prophetic Religious to Announce, Renounce and Denounce. Fr. Varghese kept us active and joyful through his humorous jokes which meant that we should become a person of humour and keep our community a happy one.

After the retreat we had our moment together at Banabithi Park, Baidhabati. The vibrant community game was animated first by the provincial followed by the six groups brought joy in everyone.  The time of being together was brought to finale with a delicious meal.

The following day after the retreat was spent listening to the provincial Sr. Rose Ezarath. She offered some reminders to the group on how to form a joyful community and to carry out a fruitful apostolate also shared some information about the visit of Visiting Councilor Rev. Sr. Lucy Rose Ozhukayil.

Finally, all the retreats congratulated Sr. Teresa Theruvamkunnel with their melodious singing for having completed 60 years of her Religious Profession and Sr. Provincial felicitated her.

On 24^th November 2018, Holy Child Auxilium Vasant Vihar organized a Retreat for the Catholic/Christian parents of Classes Nursery to XII. It was held from 8.00 am to 1.30 pm. Fr. Francis Karthanam V.C. and his team from Divine Ashram, Faridabad animated the day’s programme. The participants numbering about 200 appreciated the initiative under taken by the school management for their spiritual wellbeing. The retreat was concluded with lunch.

Mazzarello School, Ranchi kept  aside, two full days of 13 and 14 November for the Catholic Students to have God experience in a very Charismatic way.  There were 147 participants. Rev. Fr. Binoy and his team came forward willingly from Divine Retreat centre Hazaribagh to animate the student. Life witnessing of the animators was really heart touching. Fr. Binoy highlighted the richness of the Holy Bible. He also said that in the 73 books  of the Holy Bible there are 8526 promises.  It was really  a new insight for many of  them. He made them to realize with various Bible quotations that their promises are nothing compared with  the promises of  God.

Sr. Aruna Kispotta

The Catholic Students from classes IX-XII were privileged to be the part of the grand event of “Metanoia 2018” held on 6 & 7 November at Don Bosco School, Park Circus. The theme of the retreat was “Where not our hearts burning within us?”  Lk 24:32. The programme commenced with Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Rev. Fr. Rodney Borneo and Rev. Fr. Michael Biswas. Around 200 youths participated in the retreat from various schools and parishes. It was animated by Br. Colin Calmaino from Bangalore. He gave testimonies from his own life. The concluding Mass was presided over by Most Rev. Thomas D’souza along with the other priests. Vote of Thanks was expressed to all those who had been working hard to make the event a successful one. Bro.Colin’s sessions indeed left footprints in our hearts and minds.

Janettee  Rorario

Cl. XII

 AUXILIUM BANDEL: 58 sisters of our province filled with great thirst for God gathered at Auxilium Bandel for their Annual Spiritual Retreat, from 28 December – 04 January 2018. A renowned preacher Fr. Biji Thomas SDB, helped the retreatants to experience God from the various angle of their lives – prayer, evangelical council, Community living and mission, supporting his views purely from the Holy Bible.

 The retreatants were given a warm welcome by Provincial Rev. Sr. Rose Ezarath. In her introductory talk she boosted the spirit of the sisters quoting from Pope Francis “Our call is to seek the will of God “. Thus the sisters began to encounter the Lord firstly through a meaningful Eucharistic celebration. The theme rolled around these days of race was “for the greater glory of God”. Each morning dawned with a Eucharistic adoration, followed by the powerful prayers for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy men and women of the church were called upon to protect and deliver us from all evil. Fr. Biji in his first talk encouraged the retreatants  to prepare for a good confession. This Sacrament indeed was a trustful meeting with our heavenly father where one experienced His forgiveness and the grace to live a holy life.

The limitations of our community life brought into light through fitting examples from Bible stories, parables and the life of Christ. Fr. Biji urged us to live in all sincerity and truthfulness. Never to justify oneself at the advantage of others. In all these things doing the will of God is the greatest. At the mercy hour the retreatants were helped to contemplate the Paschal mystery through well animated chaplet of Divine mercy, the Holy rosary and the way of the cross. These days of grace being with our beloved Lord helped us to renew and commit ourselves totally for the glory of God. They were days of transformation than just formation. The encounter with the Lord made us to be seekers and God givers and urged us to make the necessary ‘shifts’ and ‘U turn’ in our lives journey.

At the end the retreatants were taken for a Picnic to a Santhal mission area (Sinet) run by the Salesian fathers. The sisters enjoyed themselves with various creative games and danced to the sound of the drum. Finally a good meal was served. Our sincere gratitude  to Rev. Sr. Rose Ezarath our Provincial for her active and guiding presence in our midst and to Sr. Elizabeth Valliyil and the community for their hospitality and family spirit in hosting this great event.

On 26 & 27 September 2017, Auxilium Convent School New Chumta organized Annual Retreat for Catechism students of classes V – X.  The resource persons were Fr. Fedric Baraik S.J. the Parish Priest of Praphu Jesu Parish Matigara and Mrs. Sushma Lakra one of the members of prayer group from New Chumta Parish.   67 children along with 3 teachers and one sister participated in the retreat.  It was the beautiful opportunity to experience Jesus’ love and to spend their time in front of Him in adoration and praise.  Fr. Fedric on the first day focused on the preciousness of Jesus and the second day he highlighted the mercy of God The retreat was concluded with a solemn thanksgiving Mass in gratitude to God and for the organizers.

The Annual retreat was held at Sacred Heart Novitiate, Namkum – Ranchi from17^th – 24^th May 2017.  There were 26 participants from three Provinces (ING, INS and INC), and it was preached  Fr. Deepak Toppo S J. The theme of the retreat was  “to know Him more intimately, to love Him more ardently and to follow Him more closely”. On  17^th May 2017, Sr. Philomena Prabalanathan initiated the retreat by an introductory talk. She exhorted us to renew our motivation and determination according to the Gospel values, and to live the mystery of our call.

Fr. Deepak invited us to be aware of the purpose of our lives, to experience the longing in our hearts for God which is the only aim and fulfillment of our lives, to touch His presence in creation and to experience the freedom. Fr. Deepak helped us to be aware of the love of Christ through reflection on the passion of our Lord, in a practical way which is related to daily events of life. He further took us to the new life in the Risen Lord, for without suffering there is no resurrection. His invitation for each of us is to go beyond like Mary Magdalene, never to give up like the disciples of Emmaus, to listen, Experience, share, praise and express Faith in Solidarity with the community.