12 June 2023
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod is proud to welcome the newly professed on the 222nd Birth Anniversary of the Foundress Claudine Echernier on 29th May 2023. The first commitment of our sisters took place in the IPN (Inter Province Novitiate) five provinces namely Amravati, Pune, Trichy, Madurai and Kolkata. We are grateful to God Almighty for the gift of our 19 newly professed sisters.
AMRAVATI
29th May was a memorable day for our five second year novices Maria Absana, Elizabeth Kandulna, Elizabeth Purty, Jasmine Johnson and Susana Khansu, who committed themselves totally to Jesus. It was a wonderful gathering at Assumption Church, to celebrate the love of God, to witness the first profession and to count His marvellous blessings on the family of the Sisters of the Cross.
The Holy Mass began at 7.30 am. Our Novices proceeded to the altar carrying the lights in their hands, symbolizing their readiness to bear witness to Christ. The theme of the day “Joyful Witnesses of Christ,” was significant indeed and made very special for our dear sisters, as they took a courageous step to live their life of commitment to Christ. On this auspicious day, the liturgy was very meaningful and significant. The junior Novices sang melodious hymns under the leadership of the musician Fr. Shelmon.
The main celebrant was Rev. Fr. Ronald Vaughan, the principal of St. Joseph’s Co-ed School, Bhopal, consented graciously to be the main celebrant to offer this Sacrifice of love, with the rite of profession. We appreciate and thank all the priests who joined to concelebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other religious Sisters for being present and praying for our Sisters.
After the Mass, all were invited to the Holy Cross Novitiate to felicitate the newly professed Sisters, followed by the delicious breakfast.
We, the Province of Amravati thank the Almighty God for having gifted five vibrant Sisters to our Congregation. The five newly professed Sisters were warmly welcomed in the Family of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod and we assured them of our prayerful support.
Sr. Sanjeeta Tigga,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Bhopal
PUNE
29th May 2023 was a great and awesome day of rejoicing and thanksgiving in the lives of our Novices Roseleen, Sahaya Pincy and Abisha on their First Profession as they consecrated themselves to God to witness Christ joyfully by taking the Vows of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod. Sister Bromadine Palokaran our Provincial accepted the Vows.
The theme of the Eucharistic celebration was “Consecrated Spirit-filled Witnesses of Christ.” The Main Celebrant was Rev. Fr. Jaysheelan, Provincial of MSFS, Pune. We were happy to have six concelebrants join in the Eucharistic celebration.
Fr. Jaysheelan’s reflections during the homily were deep, realistic, practical touching on the aspects of priority to Prayer in one’s life; Vocations by our witnessing life; Community Life emphasizing the importance of our presence and sharing around the three Tables of - the Eucharist, Agape- food and Meeting Table; and the Vows. He highlighted that Commitment to God is a lifetime commitment.
It was also a memorable day for us as we celebrated the 222nd Birth Anniversary of our Foundress Mother Claudine Echernier.
All of us present at the Eucharistic Banquet joined in praising and thanking the Lord for His Wonders. We placed the entire world at His feet and prayed especially for the families of our newly-Professed, who have gifted their children to serve the Lord as Sisters of the Cross.
Sr Ancy,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Pune
TRICHY
With immense pleasure we thank God for the four second year Novices who had come forward to offer themselves to God. Today indeed a great day as Chouramma Deshappa - Angamaly, Kiran Barla – Kolkatta, Nilima Hajoary – Guwahati, Rose Mary Gunja - Tenali made their First Profession. We had a meaningful Eucharist celebration at 6.30 am in the Novitiate Chapel. The Chief celebrant was Rev. Fr. Patrick Jayaraj MSFS, Provincial Superior of South East India Province, concelebrated by fourteen Priests from the various religious congregation and from the diocese of Trichy.
At the entrance the Novices welcomed the gathering and shared what motivated them to consecrate themselves to love and serve through a short enactment on the story of the marble statue. The Novices were welcomed with Sandal paste and Kumkum and were offered Cross, Globe and Stars symbolizing the theme “Consecrated to Love and Serve” in order to live their consecrated life meaningfully. Fr. Patrick Jayaraj preached the homily from Mt 26: 6-13, the anointing at Bethany by the woman with an alabaster jar. Provincial Sr. Lourdu Adaikalasamy, Provincial councilors and all the priests and religious greeted them. We expressed our joy by cutting of the cake and singing congratulations.
After the Mass all the sisters and people congratulated them and they cut the cake in the Novitiate hall. Finally all had sumptuous breakfast in the Novitiate. The lively presence of Priests, Sisters from our Province and the Sisters from other Congregation spread the fragrance of joy.
Sr Arokia Mary,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Trichy
MADURAI
With immense gratitude to the Trinity, we, the Sisters of the Cross, Province of Madurai welcomed the three Sisters Reshma Kulu, Kavitha Vennam and Nirmala Daganga into the Crossian Family through their first commitment to the Lord on the 29th of May, the 222nd birthday of our Mother Claudine Echernier, our Foundress at Paravai.
Joy filled the air as the sisters of the neighboring communities, sisters from different Congregations, Priests, lay associates and the parishioners gathered in the Novitiate Campus at Paravai. The meaningful Eucharistic celebration began with the entrance procession invoking the out pouring of the spirit. Fr.Santhiyagu MSFS was the main celebrant. During the Eucharistic celebration the Novices made their first commitment to the Lord wherein all the people of God joined in imploring God’s abundant blessings on them.
The newly professed - Sr. Reshma Kulu (Kolkata), Sr. Kavitha Vennam (Tenali) and Sr.Nirmala Daganga (Guwahati) radiated joy with their theme “Consecrated to be totally yours Lord”. After the mass the happiness was shared with the cutting of cake followed by Agape.
Sr Sumitha,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Madurai.
KOLKATA
Great indeed are your works Lord, we are ever grateful to you for the marvelous ways you prove your unconditional love to us as we had been preparing for the past few months praying for good weather and God’s protection. On 27th the arrival of Sr. Lima Rose, the Provincial of the Province of Calcutta brought joy amidst us. The religious habit of our novices were blessed by Fr. Justy during the Eucharistic celebration on 28th morning. On the same day Sr. Shiny conducted a meaningful prayer service invoking God to fill our novices with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Sr. Lima highlighted the moment expressing her joy and encouraging the novices with the prayerful support to respond to the call of God and handed over the religious habits to the novices. On 29th May the cool breeze filled our minds and hearts with gratitude to the Lord. We were happy to welcome Rev. Eugene Joseph, Bishop of Varanasi, Priests, Sisters and brothers of the Diocese, Neighbors, Parishioners and our well-wishers for this august gathering. The celebration began at 6.30 am with the entrance dance by our parishioners. The theme for this special day was “Consecrated for joyful witness of Christ’s mission.” Four of our novices Rudin Sheruba (Madurai), Alice Panna (Guwahati), Sarani Dung dung (Kolkata), Aliana Mary (Trichy) were delighted to come forward to say ‘YES’ to the Lord by saying,
“Here I am Lord since you called me.” Bishop in his homily highlighted the gift of vocation connecting to our Charism and mission. He added saying that you are called to live the paschal mystery joyfully and be witnesses of God’s love to the people of God.
We are grateful to the IMS brothers for the choir and Srs. Anjali, Violet, Kalpana and Prafula for the timely help. The newly professed were felicitated with the cutting of the cake, garlanding, congratulation song and wishes followed by sharing of the agape.
Sr. Daisy Rani,
Sr. Ranjita Bilung,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Varanasi.