CHRISTMAS

 



 CHRISTMAS IS A STATE OF MIND WHEN YOU CHERISH PEACE AND GOODWILL. 



  

 THE REAL SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS IS TO HAVE MERCY, LOVE  AND FAITH.

COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON TO THE PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL

THE SILVER YEAR OF SR.ISABEL

HAPPY B'DAY DEAR SR.SANTAN

THANK YOU LORD FOR THE GIFT OF LIFE

"NOTHING IN NATURE IS FOR ITSELF, 

RIVER DON'T DRINK ITS WATER

TREES DON'T EAT ITS FRUIT

SUN DOES NOT GIVE HEAT FOR ITSELF

LIVING FOR OTHERS IS THE WAY OF LIFE"

HAPPY B'DAY TO YOU.....................HAPPY B'DAY TO YOU..........

DEAR SISTER SANTAN, AS YOU CELEBRATE YOUR GIFT OF LIFE , WE TOO JOIN WITH YOU
 IN THANKING GOD
 FOR THE GIFT OF LIFE TO YOU
 AND PLACING YOU AMIDST US.

SISTERS FROM MALWANI COMMUNITY

ACCEPT THE  HUMBLE EXPRESSION OF OUR LOVE

SISTERS FROM DONGRI COMMUNITY

        

ONCE AGAIN MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY

HAPPY FEAST OF HOLY MOTHER TERESA OF AVILA

 TODAY WAS A MEMORABLE DAY FOR OUR JUNIORS AS WE CELEBRATED THE FEAST OF THEIR PATRONESS, OUR HOLY MOTHER TERESA OF AVILA.

WE PRAY FOR  THEIR HOLY  PERSEVERANCE  

AND THAT THEY MAY MAKE THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR HOLY MOTHER TERESA AS THEIR EXPERIENCE

 "GOD ALONE SUFFICES"

PRITHI KUNJ CHAPEL

 WE WISH ALL OUR JUNIOR SISTERS IN THE PROVINCE AND IN OUR CONGREGATION A VERY HAPPY FEAST OF OUR HOLY MOTHER TERESA

Sr. Jacquline's final profession

It was a great joy for us Carmelite Missionaries in India as our Sr. Jacquline made her final commitment in St. Anthony Parish Kodathy, Bangalore. There were 11 priests who concelebrated the solemn Eucharist. There were also religious sisters from Neighboring communities and the parishnors. There 35 Carmelite missionaries who accompanied her to the altar.  During homily the main celebrant encouraged her with the words of Jesus “Do not be afraid, I am with you until the end of time”, with Christ we can over throw the evil and build the kingdom of God. He made reference to our founder and from our constitution, no.12, which calls to have allegiance to Christ with ecclesial consciousness. The celebration ended with simple fellowship meal. We thanked for the gift life and vocation of Sr. Jacquline. We pray that Good Lord continue to fill her heart with joy, peace and love as she takes care of HIV affected Patients and others who come in her life.

15 Days Amidst Himalayan Tsunami

The students of Nirmala Niketan college of Social work (sr. Sunita and companions) took the initiative to march towards the state of Uttrakhand in India for relief work on 4^th July 2013. Uttrakhand State is erected in 2001. It is a high attitude area of which 93% is mountains and 47.04% is covered by trees and forests. Most of the northern areas of the state are part of Greater Himalaya ranges and covered by high peaks and glaciers while the lower foothills were densely forested but have suffered years of deforestation. The primary sources of livelihood in the state are agriculture and tourism and the state sells hydroelectric power to other states 70% of 10.01 million population of Uttrakhand lives in rural areas and 20% in urban locations. The State is divided in to 13 districts. Its capital Dehradun is third highest population density district in the state. The entire State is vulnerable to high rain fall, cloudburst and landslides. People did experience these calamities often in fragments but destruction up to this extent was unexpected.

There are four pilgrimages on this part of Himalaya namely Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri that is why it is also called ‘Devbhumi’. The Holy River Ganga is also divided in to four areas and has named Alaknanda, Mandakini, Bhagirathi and Saraswati. There are around 200 huge lakes created by cloudburst and glacier. The peak time for visiting these places is June to September. Months of June and July are the school holidays for the children. So the boys above 10 years go to these holy places to work in the hotels or help the parents who are engaged in taking the pilgrims up to temple on the mule ride.

Another side L&T (Larsen & Tourbro) and GVK (Gunapati Venkata Krishnareddy). These two industries have implanted two major HYDEL PROJECTS. They have hollowed many mountains and built the tunnels. This indicates decreasing strength of the mountains. Apart from this the echo system in the environment is very strong due to which with little sound the land slide occur.

This background may help us to understand the real reasons of disaster.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISASTER

The ‘Man Made disaster’ now known as “Himalayan Tsunami” hit the state of Uttrakhand on Sunday June 16, 2013. The disaster was triggered by excessively heavy rainfall of more than 220mm in the region that is home to head waters of the river Ganga and sudden fall of glacier in one of the huge lake of Himalaya did not allow the people a second thought but run to save life whoever can. These rains arrived nearly a month early in the midst of an annual pilgrim rush for the four holy sites of Kedarnath,Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. Mountains which were hollowed by the hydro power project which caused much additional destruction of landslides. Flash floods, cloudburst and landslides have claimed lives, livestock and infrastructure and displaced thousands. The death toll in Uttrakhand has reached about 10,000 and more missing. A total of 71,440 pilgrims bound for the Himalayan shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri were stranded in Rudraprayag. In Uttrakhand, 8 out of 10 districts are affected.

OUR RESPONSE

We the students of College of Social Work (MSW II) jumped into the action and thereby planning and fund raising began in full force in response to this disaster, the students wanted to carry out some funds form of relief work in the affected areas. After successful dialogue with Fr.Pius from Bijnor Diocese, our plan was finally put to action and a batch of young students accompanying their faculty reached Kothdwar where the teams were further divided across Uttarkashi, Ghat, Rudraprayag, Ghansali, Mandavar and Pauri.

We were further instructed by the Caritas and Catholic Relief Service (two catholic organisations). We got the guidelines for the need assessment. We were divided into different groups keeping in mind the severity of the destruction district wise.

Our team (Sr. Sunita and other eleven students) was assigned to go to Rudraprayag, the worst affected area of all the other regions. We stayed in a small hotel and went back and forth to different villages fulfil our mission. The team could visit 18 villages. The modes of travel were paralysed so all that we could do is walk and climb the mountains taking high risk of landslides and aggressive flow of Mandakini River. Our intervention was to do the need assessment. So we went house to house to find out the worst affected people and collected the data about the human loss, livestock and agriculture and took the measure of epidemics. Grief counselling was also part of work. We also helped the medical team for the distribution of the medicine.

We eye witnessed many landslides, broken roads, paralysed education, transport and medical systems. We could see only water where the villages existed, silt up to higher than 10 feet, aimless children, frustrated and depressed people with full of fear. Cry of the people made us to think as social workers how the systems could be made efficient to cope up with this type of situations.

We returned to Kotdwar on 13^th July 2013. After a day of rest we put our effort together to compile the reports from different districts. The whole team of 40 students visited 50 villages where government could not reach. The report was placed at the table of chief minister of Uttarakhand on 16^th July.

 

Sr.Sunita Parmar CM

 

JESUS THE BEST TEACHER

JESUS IS THE BEST TEACHER,  BECAUSE HE USED ALL THE POSSIBLE TEACHING AIDS AND MEANS AND METHODS UNDER THE SUN AND ABOVE THE HEAVEN. IS THIS ALL?

THEN WHAT MAKES THE TEACHER, THE BEST?

JESUS NOT ONLY TAUGHT BUT HE DID SET AN EXAMPLE. THAT'S WHAT MAKES HIM THE BEST OF ALL. THERE IS NO BETTER TEACHING AID THAN ONES OWN LIFE.






A TEACHER HAS THE POWER TO CREATE A WORLD OF JUST SOCIETY OR A WORLD OF TERROR. ALL THOSE WHO SHARE THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING A TEACHER, LET US LEARN FROM OUR MASTER AND BE AN INSTRUMENT OF CREATING A JUST AND A PEACEFUL SOCIETY.

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY

FREEDOM FROM WITHIN

AS WE INDIANS CELEBRATE THE INDEPENDENCE OF OUR COUNTRY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS PRIVILEGED TO THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY.

YEAR AFTER YEAR WE REPEAT, " ARE WE REALLY FREE? DOES OUR COUNTRY PEOPLE REALLY EXPERIENCE THE FREEDOM?".

IT IS GOOD TO ASK " AM I REALLY FREE?, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE? AND WHAT IS TO BE FREE FROM WITHIN?

THE BEST EXAMPLE ONE CAN LEARN FROM IS THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

MARY DID NOTHING EXTRAORDINARY IN HER LIFE. ALL THAT SHE DID WAS JUST SHE LIVED HER LIFE IN ITS FULLNESS. 

JUST LIKE ANYONE OF US, SHE ENJOYED IN THE TIME OF HAPPINESS, SHE PONDERED WHEN SHE COULDN'T UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE, AND SHE SUFFERED IN THE TIME OF SORROW(WITHOUT BECOMING BITTER).

SHE DID NOT GO TO TELL WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO DO, NEITHER SHE SEARCHED TO MAKE ANY EXTRA SACRIFICES. ALL THAT SHE DID WAS JUST  ACCEPTED WITH FAITH,  WHATEVER THE LIFE HAS TO OFFER HER.

ALLOWING THE LORD TO HAVE HIS WAY AND FULFILL WHATEVER HE HAS PLANED.

LET EACH OF OUR COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN EXPERIENCE THE FREEDOM FROM WITHIN WHICH WOULD MAKE OUR COUNTRY A BEAUTIFUL PARADISE TO LIVE IN.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Saint Elijah's Day

 

 This is one of the holidays for protecting against thunder and hail. In the folk belief Saint Elija rules over the lightning and thunders. He roams about the sky by a golden chariot with the aim to kill the Lamia that grazes the cornfields. Saint Elija hurls fire arrows at her - thunders and lightning. If there is only lightning, then people say that this is a fire that comes out from the nostrils of the horses that are harnessed in the chariot.
   On Saint Elija's Day a sacrifice is made - the oldest cock. In some places fairs and sacrifices are offered. This is the day of fur-dressers, leather-workers and tile-makers.

THE LIFE GIVING PRESENCE OF CM IN VIJAYARAI

Kanthi Kiranam and Edith stein women charitable society are two different units where we give employment for 100 women.

It is situated in Andhra Pradesh, Eluru diocese, a place called vijayarai village.

 These 100 women earn their livelihood by assembling the stabilizers for V-Guard Company.

 Most of them are illiterate. Coming from
It is situated in Andhra Pradesh, Eluru diocese, a place called vijayarai village. poor family background, sustaining them on this income.

 



This programme is begun since 1996 having in view to give employment for the backward class women.

We buy the material from different suppliers and put together bring out a finished product.

WE ALSO EDUCATE THE CHILDREN FROM THE RURAL AREA WHERE THE FUTURE OF THE CHILDREN ARE NEGLECTED.

THEY ARE EITHER FROM THE POOREST FAMILY OR NEGLECTED BY THEIR PARENTS.






 THE WOMEN ARE NOT ONLY HELPED TO EARN THEIR DAILY LIVING BUT ALSO ARE EMPOWERED TO LIVE A LIVE WITH DIGNITY AND POWER.