How "GIRLS DAY" is Celebrated at Little Sisters of the Poor in Bangalore St Joseph!

There was a lot of excitement in preparing for the ‘Girls’ Day’ since the ‘Covid’ left a break of nearly three years. The girls arrived from various places, some near, others far, so it became necessary for Sr. Caroline to escort them to the Home at Hosur Road. On their arrival some residents and Little Sisters welcomed them with a beautiful rose for each one, that surprised and touched them. This group arrived a day earlier, giving them the possibility to meet the community after lunch for a few games, which they enjoyed especially as there were prizes! The evening was spent watching the video ‘All or Nothing’ which they found interesting.

The Girls Day took place the next day,14th April. From morning, the girls from Bangalore proper, began arriving from 9 am onward, a few from our Hennur Road Home joined them, and some from Mysore also took part. Once their number was complete the group had a short visit of the Home, followed by light refreshments.

Rev Fr. John Kennedy from SDM (The Society of St. Eugene de Mazenod) who was to animate the day, arrived well in advance to prepare the power-point he was going to use for talks. He began with a hymn in Tamil subtitled in English, theme being Mary’s call.

He defined the call to religious vocation as:

1.Information 2. Investigation 3. Inspiration 4.Implementation

Through which he connected Mother Mary’s call- first she got information from angel, next she questioned how it could be, she gets inspiration from the angel’s confirming message and finally she gives life to the world by her Yes. Father spoke about his appreciation of our congregation, encouraging the girls to join our congregation. He gave them 4 points to reflect on-

1. If not you then who will?

2. If not here then where?

3. If not now, then when?

4. If not for God’s mission, then for what I am here?

The Holy Eucharist held an important place at the end of the morning this was well participated by the singing in different languages by the girls and Little Sisters.

In the meal that followed, the Community of Little Sisters took part giving us an opportunity to interact with the youth. Our next meeting was at 2 p.m. and the video ‘joy of serving’ was shown with the life of our Mother St. Jeanne Jugan. Fr. John Kennedy questioned them about this, encouraging them to reflect; they responded well, it was good to see them attentive to the video.

It was by God’s Providence that Sr. Amaly Nancy was with us, and at our invitation she shared her vocation story and her missionary life as a Little Sister in Algeria, North Africa, which was inspiring and motivating to all. Next Fr. Kennedy got everyone ready for an action song. Soon it was time for Adoration that was conducted by Father. We all felt the end came too soon at 5 pm, when it was time to disperse and all agreed it was an end of a beautiful day. May God be blessed for its success; with our saintly Mother St. Jeanne Jugan we say Blessed be God, Glory be to God, Thank you my God. We count on her prayers for the youth to be inspired to follow in her footsteps in loving our Lord and carry on her work of caring for Him in the poor elderly.

GIRLS DAY CELEBRATED IN MYSORE ON

MAY 15TH 2024

The Little Sisters in Mysore welcomed 12 young girls to their Home in Mysore on the morning of 15th, May 2024. The day began with each girl introducing herself. This was followed by a few games which helped the girls to come to know one another. They were happy then to see our Video of “Joy of Serving”.  After their tea break and a little time to reflect on the video, they shared with the Little Sisters the insights they received from the Video.

 One of the reflections was, "Now we understand that when we come to visit the Home, it is very important to speak with the Residents instead of spending time to amuse among ourselves."

Then they went to interact with the Residents and helped with the service of meals. Serving the meals to the Residents really gave them a lot of joy.

 After their lunch which they shared with Sr. Justina and Sr. Celestina, a few action songs animated the group. Then Sr. Justina shared her Vocation Story, spoke about our Congregation and the Formation of a Little Sister. Sister then asked what the young girls planned to be in their life.  To our surprise three of them said they wanted to be Little Sisters!  Praise the Lord!

May our Mother St Jeanne Jugan pray for them! Before leaving each one received a Message from our Mother Foundress, a small statue of St Joseph and a small Bible diary. As they left us, some of them promised to return on Sundays to visit the Residents and to help with meal service.