From 7 to 9 December 2019 the sisters who made their first vows from 1987 to 1995 came together at Snehalaya, Nagpur. All the 31 participants were given a red rose each and warmly welcomed by the sisters of Snehalya and they lead the group to the conference hall through a tribal dance. Sister Philomena Pichappilly the Provincial of Nagpur Province welcomed the sisters of the four provinces of India. Sister Sunanda Tete conducted a prayer service on being moulded and shaped by the Lord. Each one was asked to carry a mud pot and place it at the photo of Fr. Medaille representing their own experience of being formed by the Lord in the congregation. This created a reflective atmosphere in the group.
The session by Advocate Mahendra Lime on Cyber Crime and Social Media was an eye opener for majority of the participants. He began the session from the question, “Is Google giving free service to anyone who use this browser? Adv. Mahendra elaborated in detail with examples how internet-based apps ultimately rob people of their privacy and use the data of millions of people all over the world for their own business and profit; Google, Facebook, Whatsaap to cite a few. It was interesting to see how we do not have any other choice but go ahead with the online system of the current digital world. People have and are losing money over fraud transactions online.
We are paying a price by entering our data into the internet. The Apps do not need to charge us. They have our huge data which is a big price. The logic is why should anyone or any company do or give anything free of cost? Facebook is a company less than 15 years of age and Mark Zuckerberg is one of the top ten richest people in the world. Adv. Mahendra also threw light on what are cyber-crimes and cyber laws that we have access to when cyber crimes are committed.
Another session by Fr. Cyril O.P. on the topic, ‘Healed, Formed and Transformed in Christ’ enabled the group to root themselves in religious life more strongly. Fr. Cyril gave a detailed explanation of various types of brokenness the people have gone through beginning with the Bible and the prophets down the ages up to our present times. Illustration of the life Prophet Jonah helped the participants to pause and see to which category they belong: to the Running away prophet (Jonah Ch. 1), to the Disciplined prophet (Jonah Ch. 2), to the Dynamic prophet (Jonah Ch. 3), or to the Disappointed prophet (Jonah Ch. 4) at this stage of their life. The importance of healing too was stressed and Jesus himself doing healing most of the time in his public ministry. The explanation of three types of religious: Negative Type – Frustrated and grumbling all the time (Jn. 6: 60-61), Hired type – not authentic, pretending type (Jn. 10: 12-13) and Positive type – authentic, genuine and like the good shepherd having the smell of the sheep (Jn. 10: 14 ff) enabled the group to identify the type they are. Group discussion was held on the recent suicides of religious nuns and priests and what we need to do as members to help such vulnerable people in our communities.
On the third day the group was taken to the roots of the congregation in India, Kamptee and then to an orange farm. The visit to the senior sisters at Snehalaya was the last piece of the gathering. The candidates and postulants put up an excellent entertainment program for all of us. Everyone recorded the events and photos digitally not missing any opportunity for another selfie. This was the last set of batches to come together at the interprovince level.
S. Navya Neelamvilail
Pachmarhi
