XV General Chapter:
For the sake of Christ with Magdalene of Canossa
Our Consecration: the Vows

Facilitated by Sr. Margaret Peter, FdCC (The Congregational Leader, Rome)
Kluang, Malaysia
220809

Ephesians 4: 30
Sisters, do not grieve
The Holy Spirit of God
With which you have been marked
With a seal
For the day of your redemption.

For the sake of Christ
Following Christ / discipleship
Leaving all /selling all
Gospel women, being good news
Marian spirituality of availability / magnificat
Having the same mind / same attitudes of Christ
Same style of life and mission (look and do likewise)
Being a giving person (John 10: 10)

We want to live a life that clearly proclaims that we have been attracted and challenged by the gratuitous love of the Lord Jesus who on the Cross reveals the face of the Father and a “love without measure”. (General Chapter Resolutions. Pg. 1)

With Magdalene: It demands more; inspice et fac
Spiritually alive and charismatically vibrant
Live the MORE - enhancing the quality of life, love, service

Passion of Christ evokes passion for humanity
Living the double precepts of Charity

How does a Canossian express or live this?
What changes does it require? What are the demands?
What sort of preparation and formation do we need?
As individuals
As community

What will help me to be more focused?
Paying attention to the essentials
First things first (in relation to my consecration and commitment)
To be creative and proactive
To be alert and flexible (not to grieve the Holy Spirit)
To develop and live a mentality of change; an attitude of conversion
Ongoing process of transformation and growth

What do we understand by MENTALITY?
Way of looking at reality
Personal point of view (reflected, studied)
Personal opinions coloured by interest, responsibility etc.
Mindset that is inherited, cultural

A MENTALITY of CHANGE implies (ref. XV General Chapter)
Openness to understand one’s reality
An attitude of searching for what is true, good and lasting
A discerning attitude (clarifying and living the common VISION)
Developing an attitude of embracing and integrating values that enable one to be true to her true self (strengthening one’s identity)
Living and on-going process of radical conversion, formation, transformation
Process of being and becoming
Continuous conversion to the Gospel

We intensify our availability to be renewed v/ converted / transformed, to be in conformity with Jesus Crucified and Risen, so that the charism received remains vital an integral in its essence.

What style of life will ensure this MENTALITY of CHANGE at the various dimensions of our Canossian of life?

An attentiveness that facilitates a flow of grace
Awareness of a heightened sense of connectedness
Openness of the grace of living reconciled / in harmony
Alertness that favours communion of hearts through listening, dialogue, mutual empowerment
Enabling and radiating positive energy (quality of energies)
Spirit of enthusiasm that inspires, motivates and strengthens
Live in a state of MISSION (contemplation and action)

“Therefore,
Let us lay aside every encumbrance of sin
Which clings to us
And persevere in running the race
Which lies ahead;
Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
Who inspires and perfects out faith”. (Hebrews 12: 1 - 2)

Vocation Drive to Taiping
Date: 20 - 21 June 2009
Srs. Lucia Choo, Yvonne Francis, Santha Rajoo and Theresa Chew


Report of Awareness sessions held in Taiping on 20th June 2009

The Team members comprises of Srs. Theresa Chew, Yvonne Francis, Santharajoo and Lucia Choo.

We left on the 19th June for Taiping and arrived at 7.45pm. We visited Sr. Santha’s parents before we went to the Parish. Fr. David Lourdes, the Parish Priest of Taiping welcomed us and housed us in his Parish house.

On the 20th June at 9am, we meant 15 youths from the Parish, ages 13 - 21 years.

Sr. Theresa Chew welcomed the youths and the purpose of our visit was to share our stories.

We began with a prayer by Sr. Yvonne from the Gospel passage of Matt5: 13-16... “You are the salt and the light of the world”. Some time was given for the sharing on the word.

Sisters (YF and SR) shared their Vocation Stories and Theresa Chew touched on the different aspects of life... Married life, Single, Religious, Priesthood. Sister also touched on the aspect of Prayer, Community and Mission.

Sr. Lucia thanked the youths for coming and invited them to share their views about the day sessions.

+++ Stephanie age 17...... “I learned to make choices. There are many choices I’ve to make.”

+++Adeline Anne 17 ... I’m grateful for these sessions. Many things to learn.”

+++ Clement Das age 19 ... I’m happy to be here and thankful.

+++Justin age 17 .. Happy and shared the same sentiments with the rest.

The whole group would like to have a follow-up

The closing prayer was a prayer dance by JUSTIN. Song “God is God and I’m a man. So I’ll never understand God for only God is God.”

The team returned on Sunday 21st June 2009. Left Taiping at 8am.


Minuted by Sr. Lucia

The Parish Priest (Rev. Fr. David Lourdes) of the Church of St. Louis, Taiping

Our efficient Secretary cum spokes woman, Sr. Lucia Choo

Names of Participants

1 Adeline Andrina Robeiro (17)
2 Clara A Gomez (17)

3 Vanessa Megan Robeiro (14)
4 Daryl Daries (15)
5 Augustin (15)

6 Eystein A/L Danial (15)
7 Clement Das (19)
8 Alvin Anand (14)

9 Juliana d/o Selvanayagam (16)
10 Michele Helena d/o Edward Jayabalan (16)

11 Monica Jane d/o Edward Jayabalan (13)
12 Adeline Anne (17)

13 Stephanie Wong (17)

14 Justin (17)

15 Abraham Mivel (21)

Canossian Spirituality

CANOSSIAN SPIRITUALITY
My experience

Let me begin by sharing with you my experience.
As I look back, I can see more clearly now how God came into my life. It began as a simple desire to know him. I come from a Buddhist family. My mum was a devout Buddhist. On big feast days, she would bring me along to the temple to pray.
It was on one of those occasions that I found myself asking the question:
Who is God?
Is there one God to whom I could pray to instead of going through so many deities?

These questions crossed my mind and this was the beginning of my search for the One True God. There was a desire to get to know God and to focus on Him alone. I had a vague feeling that there was something more – something greater and higher and better.
The opportunity came when I accidentally came across a notice on the board which stated that Catechism classes would begin after school that day. I made the necessary inquiry and asked permission to attend the class out of curiosity.

This very small and seemingly insignificant incident led me to Jesus Christ. It was the 1st step of my faith journey. I felt the need to continue to attend some more private catechism lessons until after its completion. After some months, when the lessons were over – the Sister asked me whether I wanted to be baptized or no.
My first reaction was No. But after I returned home, something began to slowly dawn within me. I became aware that God is here in Jesus Christ. He is the one true God that I am searching for. Now that I know, I cannot deny Him.

The tug of war began, my parents on one side and the call to acknowledge God as God on the other. It was a painful struggle but ultimately the Lord gave me the strength to take the risk and commit myself. After my baptism, I sensed that if God is truly God – then it is only right that I give myself to Him, to love Him and to serve Him alone.
This strong desire to give my service to God led me to want to surrender my life to him and what better way then to join the Carmelite order, an enclosed order totally devoted to prayer and worship. The only knowledge and desire that I had then was to give my whole self to this God who is my Creator and Lord.

I needed some time away from my family to prepare myself for the separation. It was also a time for my family to accept the idea. That was how I landed in a Canossian Convent School, in Singapore. I made sure that the Sister in charge knew that my stay there was only temporary for I still held on to the idea of being a Carmelite. I was with some of the girls who were staying there. They were the Canossian Aspirants.

One day, while I was seated with them in a group sharing, as a Sister was talking about St. Magdalene of Canossa and her Charism. Then suddenly it clicked! This is the way I want to live my life. A life that is focused on the Christ Crucified. I didn’t know at that time what it was all about. All I knew was that I was attracted to Christ who gave himself so totally to the Father. And I wanted to follow his example. This was what made me change my direction from the Carmelite order to the Canossian order.

St. Magdalene of Canossa, Our Mother Foundress, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to take Christ Crucified as her model. It was Lent, during the Holy Week, when she was at prayers reading a text from her meditation book where she came across a text “inspice et fac secumdrum exemplar” (which means Look and do according to the Divine Model).
She was deeply moved by this text for several days. She was greatly drawn by the love of God for us. Jesus on the Cross is the greatest expression of love, the unconditional love of Jesus for the Father and for us all.

She was inspired to take as her principal aim the fulfillment of the two great commandments of love in Mk 12: 28 - 34 :

To love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. And we are to imitate Christ Crucified in our way of loving….. “Look and Do according to your Divine Model.” This is what she wanted for each one of her daughters who join the institute.
Jesus Christ Crucified is her main point of reference for our Foundress and for all the Sisters.

How does she want this love to be expressed?

She was a woman with a very big heart, vision and insight. She envisioned five main areas of ministry where the Sisters can show this love in action/in reality. Her love for God is so great that she wanted to reach out to everyone, everywhere. She places the poor as her main beneficiaries while serving the needs of the very young to the very old.
The youth too has a very special place in her heart.

Our Ministries of Charity are:

The integral formation of the person
Faith formation (Evangelization)
Pastoral Care of the sick and elderly
Formation of the laity
Spiritual Exercises

The objective of all these ministries of Charity is to make God better known and loved and to seek only the Glory of God and the salvation of souls.

The essence of our identity, as Canossian Daughters of Charity and Servants of the Poor, lies not so much in what we do as in the love that continues to inspire in us the joy of living. What we are called to hand on to those after us and to preserve as an important heritage in the face of so many changes, LOVE.

What is the Canossian Spirituality?

Our way of life is to love like Jesus Crucified, our Divine Model. All our actions must be animated with the Spirit of Christ, a spirit of charity, humility, kindness, goodness, patience and so on.

It is a very tall order – none of us have reached it yet –we are all in the process. But this is our aim, our desire and our constant struggle. It is a struggle because we have to go against our human nature, our own ego. But with each fall, we rise again stronger and more convinced of our goal and a little nearer to it. It is a life time struggle but it is not in vain. The Lord gives us a lot of consolations too. We experience of His presence in our lives, his goodness and faithfulness and unending love make this journey truly worthwhile and meaningful.

I am very grateful to God for the gift of vocation, for calling me to be his child, and to be able to serve Him in all my brothers and sisters in this particular institute.

The Charismatic intuition expressed in synthesis is:

A particular aspect of an attraction to the Gospel

A particular aspect of the life of Jesus perceived in a profound and meaningful way.

The attraction of Magdalene was towards this Jesus who was actively loving others when he was on the Cross.

- He forgives “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
- The thief who was assured paradise
- The gift of Mother Mary to us to be our Mother.

“the Greatest love” refers to the act of actively loving in the face of suffering and pain, while nailed to the cross.

By Sr. Christie Ho

I Said my "YES"

Psalm 139 v 13-14 :
truly you have formed my innermost being , you knit me in my mother’s womb.

I give you thanks that I am fearfully wonderfully made, wonderful are your works.
Inspired by these words, I would like to share a few lines on how the GOD OF SURPRISES called me to be HIS Instrument of love.

The God of the Impossible always has His Way and His Plan for each one of us. I was staying far from the Church and did not know any religious. Still, God sent numerous people to help me during the course of my searching to discover and to have the courage to respond to HIM wholeheartedly .

First ,there was a committed catechist. Be it shine or rain ,he came to our small unknown village- Bertam Ulu , faithfully to teach us ( about 15 of us teenagers ). He travelled from Air Salak on his motorcycle and prepared us for the Sacrament of Confirmation . Before the Confirmation day, he urged us to pray hard to the Holy Spirit for the gifts . Then after the Confirmation classes, he lit the spark of vocation in me by giving me the Chinese “Herald” to read. I could feel the stirring interest growing inside me and I felt this could perhaps be what I had been searching for. So , I “ shopped” around the Chinese speaking Orders to find out more. When I voiced my interest for the religious life to my mum, she was strongly against it. I knew there would be obstacles but that did not stop me from entrusting myself to the Lord. I prayed that His will be done.

Later, while I was teaching in a Kindergarten in Plentong , Johor, I met more English speaking Sisters. Aware of my inadequacy in English, I tried to avoid them and ignore the inner prompting of the Lord . But the Lord knew what was best for me and how to get me. It was through an outing with some friends in Desaru seaside that the Lord showed me who He really was. On that trip, the Lord saved me from two major accidents. He caught hold of my hand when I called out to Him just as I was about to drown. He saved me a second time on the return journey. I was supposed to be in the car that went down the cliff but because of His divine intervention, I was asked to move to another car. I was trembling with great fear after the whole event.. That evening , during Mass I simply promised the Lord not to run away from His calling anymore.

As I surrendered to Jesus, another great challenge hit me when the Apostolate Nuncio ,then in 1987, came for his Apostolate Visit to Johor Bahru and had a meeting in Plentong .Without knowing me well, he challenged me to be more proficient in English. From that time on, he constantly supported me in my vocation journey.

I was introduced to the Canossian Sisters in Singapore. My first meeting with the Canossian Sister, Sr. Christina Yeo was in his Apostolate Apartment, Singapore. Then we met in Serangoon – Joyville ,almost every weekend. As time went by, I decided to experience the different kinds of work in their ministry. So I was assigned to be an assistant nurse in St. Joseph’s Home in Jurong. Having to take care of cancer patients really broadened my perspective of life and moulded me ever deeper about the meaning of life. I had a totally different experience of the old and the sick and with those innocent small children .I was touched by the authentic pastoral witness of the Sisters. They serve others with so much patience, love, gentleness , kindness and great sacrificing spirit .

Deep down in my heart , I felt the Lord was calling me to follow Him more closely and to serve Him wholeheartedly in the Canossian Spirit . With the firm encouragement of the Apostolate Nuncio and the grace of God, I humbly responded to His call in 1994. The Lord has blessed me with a few companions on the journey in Postulancy and Noviatiate in Singapore .

I put all my trust in the Lord that He will keep his promises just like in

(insert pictures 1,2,3 at this side)

JEREMIAH 33v14- .
“ I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.”
ISAIAH 38 v-“ The Lord will do what he has promised” .

With the help of Mother Mary ,I said my first “ Yes” on 1 January 1998.
The love of God has never left me even in the most sorrowful and doubtful moments. He continues to sustain me with His graces , blessings and gives HIMSELF freely in the EUCHARIST and THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

He invites ,challenges and demands me to give the best in the ministry ,to witness to His great love through teaching, catechizing, visiting, breaking the Bread of Life-His Holy Word. I share the deep desire of our Founder St. Magdalene who said “ Prevention is better than cure” . and so I serve the little ones by educating them, forming them and moulding their characters to be fully alive according to the famous words of John Power S.J , I feel enthusiastic about working with the youths and to help them know themselves better and to keep their priorities right. I find it a challenge to understand the culture of the youths and to accept them and to journey with them in faith.

I am looking forward to better myself by constant learning, reflecting and to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that I can serve the Lord even more generously, faithfully and joyfully.

Sr. Lucy Eng, FdCC

Sacred Heart Convent

Melaka