Number of years of experience as a formator: 15
The group you mostly lived with and served: Aspirants, Novices, Juniors
- Most influential persons:
- My mother
- My candidate director
- My parish priest
- Their secret:
The challenging, loving, committed life my mother lived. The simple exemplary life of Sr. Olive, my candidate director, and deep spiritual life of the pastor in my village parish.
- Best lessons from my family:
- Life of honesty at any cost.
- To be grateful for every little gift which comes from God.
© Hard work and divine grace lead to success and fulfillment in life.
- Helps in religious life:
- Love God and utterly depend on God.
- Love your community members beginning with the difficult ones.
- Love people with special preference to the least.
- Best help as a religious:
- Most helpful: My first-year canonical novitiate experience in our Ashram situated in a jungle amidst the poor people in the village.
- Next most helpful: times of quiet, prayer, community life-adjustment to different cultures, personal accompaniment, reading, exemplary life of my director, ministry experience, personal reflection and study, nature, challenging exposures.
- Third most helpful: Conferences, classes.
- What I tried to give to formees:
When I was a formator, I aimed at three parameters: Inspiring the formees to grow to love God, love community members and love the poor. The rest is added on to these basics as they grow. Today’s formees need to grow deeply in these three basics, too, along with learning to think critically on changing events at all levels, freedom with responsibility, commitment, challenging compassionate exposures, personal accompaniment, trusting and loving, allowing them to grow, making mistakes, groom them to be mature adults, sound knowledge of media and its impact, creativity in service, value of money, self-study, practical knowledge of a challenging life in the world, personal/communal reflection-action discernment, etc.
- Religious less mature than lay persons? How to help them mature:
- Treat the formees as adults, trusting them with adequate freedom with responsibility, with accompaniment.
- Give them challenging exposures, with guidance.
- Avoid undue pampering and over protection.
- Other suggestions:
- Be true to self, deeply rooted in God, charism and compassion for the poor.
- Be deeply human, aspiring to be divine.
- Walk the talk
- Mistakes to avoid
- Formators are human and growing. We need to grow. Don’t deny our mistakes and imperfections.
- Partiality- treat each formee with equity, with special attention to the weak.
- Qualities of a good formator
- Simple, honest life.
- Being human—a big heart to love unconditionally and to overlook differences.
- Lead to inspire.
Sr Amelia Moras SCN
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