“Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares” (Jeremiah 9:20). These words of Jeremiah addressing a disaster of his time become relevant to our time too, as our worlds have been turned upside down in a matter of a few months being hit by the Corona Pandemic. We are enduring a collective traumatic experience that has revealed both the limits of human self-sufficiency and the limitless courage and self-sacrifice of the human spirit. Almost everyone is going through a rough phase and finding it challenging to deal with the abrupt change in lifestyle.
Yes the world went home and the stay at home experience motivated some to spend the time engaging in things one loved, hobbies that had been previously swamped by the heavy schedules of each one’s ministry. Myriad are the proposals by the media to make effective use of the time. The purposeful and meaningful activities should be not only stimulating usphysically and psychologically but it should be carefully chosen for every religious to boost one’s spiritual energy and further pass it on to the world at large.
The apostolic letter by Pope Francis entitled “AperuitIllis” issued on 30thSeptember2019, the Feast of St. Jerome, invites us ‘to hold the word of God in our hands every day as much as possible so that it becomes our prayer” and a greater part of one’s lived experience and to develop a closer relationship with sacred Scripture; otherwise, our hearts will remain cold and our eyes shut, struck as we are by so many forms of blindness’. General Chapter 2019 too recommends systematic study of the word of God.
Taking into consideration the call of the Church and the orientations of the Chapter, Sr.Elsy George our Provincial proposed a method for the intense study of the Word of God. The sisters were to memorize 50 Verses from the Bible with the reference. The sisters, young and old welcomed this plan wholeheartedly, studied and participated in the test conducted in the communities and a prize is awaiting for the top scorers and many of them have secured full marks.
The sisters expressed that it was a unique opportunity to grasp the beauty of God’s word and to see it applied to the daily lives and reach to those near and far away with the consolation and comfort it gives.“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and the spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrew 4:12). Hence the Provincial announced that the continuity of this study will be done using creative and innovative means with an ardent desire to make the Word of God a living reality.Abig thanks to the Provincial Sr. Elsy George and her team.
