Oh! It’s really beautiful.

Coming together from various places,

To live our life to the full

Together as we experience the high places

It was a month’s preparation;

With the theme: celebrate the beauty of God’s call.

We engaged with all our enthusiasm;

To make this beauty of Call to make known to all

Four weeks went with different practices;

Living in faith with joy was the First.

Second was to uphold one another, followed by being generous;

Then the best was living our life in communion with Jesus and others.

Along with spiritual preparation we had many other activities;

To keep us in union with the celebration

As a result we came out with much creativity;

This filled us with animation.

The vigil on the eve was a sort of preparation;

To celebrate the next day’s Eucharistic celebration

Fr. Hilarious celebrated it with such devotion;

That gave us the feeling of mysticisms.

As we were energized spiritually;

So we went to strengthen ourselves physically.

The play let: “Hinds feet on the high places.” was a great success;

To let the seed of LOVE grow in our hearts was the message it gave.

We thank the Lord for His constant support;

Though it could not be seen but felt all the way.

It may seem as the end of the celebration;

Yet we believe that it is jus the beginning of our living.

On 25^th February 2017 was a special day for the Novitiate community of Ranchi, since we celebrated our community day. We had a month’s preparation with the theme “Celebrate communion of hearts by being merciful like the Father.” We had weekly practices divided into four weeks:  1) Consciously nourish oneself with the Eucharistic Jesus 2) Kind and lovable especially with whom I have difficulty 3) Gentle reminders and accepting corrections serenely 4) Happy and joyful by being forgiving.

Each day we prayed for a person related to our community. When sisters turn came, we shared our vocation story to enrich others. On 24^th February we had our community outing to Bio – Diversity. It was a beautiful experience. In the evening we had our vigil service prepared and conducted by Sr. Mukta K. and Sr. Shashikanta Xalxo. It helped us to thank God for the gifts of many people we come across daily; and enjoy their help. After supper we had our cultural programme for which our Mazzarello community was invited. The Programme began with the festal song followed by a prayer dance by our house girls. Then “The Bishop’s Candle sticks” was presented by the novices and the sisters highlighting the act of mercy. The day ended with the Thanksgiving Eucharist celebrated by Rev. Fr. Nazarius Dung Dung SDB. The liturgy was well prepared by the novices which added joy and colour to the celebration .The celebrants words “It is each one of us who build our community” was an impetus to experience to experience community communion every day of our life.

Reported by

Binita Bara,  Salomi Bhuinya and Shashikiran Xalxo

On 12^th November 2016, Auxilium convent Barasat celebrated the Community Day after a month preparation with the theme “The family that grows in Communion, Joy, Mercy and Love. This memorable day was prepared with great love offering prayers and practices like finding the good qualities of each person writing it and presenting it to them on the feast day. The celebration began with a well prepared vigil service.  At the end of the vigil service every one thanked each other for their contribution in building up community communion.

On 13^th the community spent quality time together in the company of boarders, teachers, workers, and house staff by praying, sharing the meals cooked by the workers, animating and participating in various games, exchanging of gifts etc.  The celebrations came to an end with the well prepared Eucharistic celebration. Rev. Fr. K.T. Thomas SDB concelebrated the mass with Fr. Abraham SDB. During his homely he emphasised the need to practice the three magical words given to us by Pope Francis   please, excuse me and thank you in order to build community communion. The boarders put up a meaningful and beautiful programme on this occasion in the form of songs, skit, comic etc. The day will remain memorable for all.

Reported by Sr. Mary John

Oh! how lovely life was at Mornese! Yes,  indeed our community of R.K. Puram is also a tangible expression of the community  of Mornese . We celebrated our community-communion on 15^th October 2016 after a month-long spiritual preparation. The theme chosen for the celebration was “ Community –                 A celebration of Mercy” and  some of our practices were: praying for each other, common reading and reflection on Articles regarding “ Fraternal Life”  which helped us  to live Mercy in action. The solemn thanksgiving Mass held on 14^th  evening was  presided over by Rev. Fr. Babu  Varghese SDB,  the Rector and principal of Don Bosco Alaknanda. Morning Prayer of the next day was another occasion for us to praise and thank God for the unique gift of one another in the building up of  our community.

On this special day we had a community  outing to the  newly inaugurated  Rashrapathi Bhawan Museum set up with latest technology . We then moved on  to Nehru Park where we had a friendly  time in the  company of each other. We concluded the day  with a thanksgiving adoration praising God  for all His blessings.

Reported by Sr. Anima  Minj

“Build up a deep relation with Jesus through personal prayer and a fruitful Sacramental life resulting in attitudes of forgiveness, mercy and compassion,so everyone will approach us freely and spontaneously” was our theme as we prepared to celebrate our Community Day on 29 September  in joy and gratitude to one another, along with our boarders, co-workers and the poor families we had been visiting this period of time.

 The Vigil Service , well prepared, led us to reflect on articles 56 and 62 of our Constitutions, laying focus on the Community of Mornese, making our community” the house of the love of God”. The Morning Prayer , through a simple Power Point Presentation enabled us reflect that each of us is a lamp that lights up the world, invoking God to fill our hearts with his love, our eyes with his light and our soul with his peace to be for all, channels of God’s mercy, compassion and love.

Fr. Siby sdb in his brief homily wonderfully connected the feast of the Archangels to today’s celebration. To build a wonderful community, each of us must play roles of Michael- the Protector to all members: Gabriel, the messenger of Good news for all as did our Blessed Mother: and Raphael, the healer, each got to be a healer to one another. He said Don Bosco gave much importance to Community. Yet we often get so disconnected without even knowing each other deeply. Jesus too had a community of disciples of different characters, yet they lived together in perfect harmony and love. Our community ought to be the structure of a pyramid, with Jesus at the top and we, as we come closer to Jesus we come closer to one another.

The agape was also a wonderful moment of a family gathering especially where we invited some 10 poor family members to join us in this celebration. Sarees were distributed to a few old women who were very grateful. By 2 p.m. the boarders entertained the whole group through song, dance, comic and drama. The day ended in a note of joy, gratitude, hope and peace for the joy of the Lord was our strength.

Community Day was celebrated on 3-4 September at Thecho with the theme “Make Thecho into Mornese”.  Four weeks of spiritual preparation was a challenge taken from the spirituality of Mother Mazzarello namely  “Let’s go to Mazzarelli, the house of Mother Mazzarello’s birth, Let’s go to Valponasca where a little window bears witness to the contemplative glance of Maria Domenica, Let’s go to collegio to find a well in the courtyard, symbol of the life, struggle and purification of communion in the spirit of ‘Vado io, facio io’,  Let’s go to the work room to lend our ear to the question of Mary Mazzarello “what time is it?”

In this year of mercy we were called to be “Merciful like the Father”. Often it was more demanding and challenging while dealing with the children of  different temperaments. At the same time we would enjoy their laughter’s and active presence. As part of the celebration, we had ‘a day with the Lord’ and all the children had an opportunity to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Sr. Maria Goretti led us in prayer followed by the offering of flowers to each other as a sign of forgiveness and peace. We entered the chapel in procession holding a heart with Sr. Supeior in front. Sr. Arockia Aruna led us in prayer. The Eucharistic celebration presided over by Rev. Fr. Florence Demta SDB the rector of Siddhipur began with a thanksgiving chant and an introduction by Sr. Abhai Kishori Minj.  In his homily Fr. Florence spoke on community life and family Spirit. After the Mass the children greeted everyone with festive song. It was followed by a sumptuous meal together with all the invitees. In the evening colorful pomps and a cultural programme were put up. Sr. Superior appreciated the lively performances and invited the boarders to keep up the spirit of Mornese. Sr. Superior gave a surprising gift to all the boarders and encouraged them to go ahead in life with confidence in the spirit of “Vado io”.

On 25^th November 2015, the boarders and sisters of St. Anthony’s Convent “Nirmala Niketan” celebrated the community day. The day began with the Holy Eucharistic celebration, specially praying for all the intensions of Sr. Lily D’Souza the animator of the community. The community day further drew the sisters and boarders together as they had their meal together.

Happiness overwhelmed everyone when the boarders had their games organized by the sisters. The boarders thoroughly enjoyed playing journey by air route and the other games. The games brought an air of thrill and energy to all.

Finally the day ended after a short stage program by the boarders. Wishes and gifts were presented to Sr. Lily by all the boarders, the residential teachers and co-workers as their token of love.  At last a movie ‘Life is beautiful’ was shown to all.  The day’s celebration brought joy, happiness and feeling of love in each and everyone.

Susanna Sharma

Class XI